Big Time Revolution: Kings Fall or at Least Bow
by OneHorseShay
Summary: Parallel Story to my Victorious story 'We Love Each Other'. Griffin told Jade West and Tori Vega that he would make sure it was a mistake for them signing to other record companies after the Platinum Music Awards, but he didn't count on Katie Knight and one wayward son. T for Violence, Adult Situations/Themes, Language. Dusty Hale/Heather Fox, Logan/Camille, One-sided James/Lucy
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Hello everyone. I'm trying my hand in a fandom, I'm not a particular fan of but find it as pretty good pointless humor, so I'm writing this from a non-fan perspective and for those fans of my other stories who may not be familiar with the series.

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Big Time Revolution: Kings Fall  
By OneHorseShay

Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue. For God sakes, don't sue.

Pairing(s): Victorious mentioned character (Stand-In OC according to the TV Tropes definition) Dusty Hale/Heather Fox, Logan/Camille, One-sided James/Lucy

Rating: T for Violence, Adult Situations/Themes, and Language.

Summary: Parallel Story to my Victorious story 'We Love Each Other'. Griffin told Jade West and Tori Vega that he would make sure it was a mistake for them signing to other record companies after the Platinum Music Awards, but he didn't count on Katie Knight and one wayward son.

Timeline Note: Takes place parallel to the Big Time Rush episode 'Big Time Returns'.

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Prologue

Gustavo Rocqué's Office  
Rocqué Records  
Los Angeles, CA  
Friday, June 8, 2012

Being the president of a major record company was a fulltime job in every sense of the phrase and Gustavo Rocqué loved every moment of it even if his doctors hated it due to the stress and blood pressure problem it caused. After just completing a world tour with his 'dogs' he affectionately (and sometimes used not so affectionately) referred to the world wide successful boy-band Big Time Rush, he was already picking the new single off their second album to keep his band in the public eye as much as possible and keep pushing record sales.

However, his upbeat mood was quickly dashed when his boss, the CEO of Rocqué's parent company RCMCBT Global Net Sanyoid Corporation, Arthur Griffin walked into his office with his steadfast bodyguard and assistant, Obdul. The CEO was a gentleman in his late-fifties/early-sixties with graying hair and blue eyes and his assistant/bodyguard was a tall African-American gentleman with a thin goatee, dressed in an equally immaculate suit as his boss.

The older gentleman with gray hair wore a bright smile, which Gustavo realized was a bad sign because it usually meant he was going to be tortured in some manner.

The CEO laced his fingers in front him and cheerfully began, "Gustavo, I'm thrilled to have you back from your World Tour and making me a great deal of _money_."

The glasses wearing record president raised a beefy hand and countered, "Ah Griffin, they keep most of the money, remember?"

He slightly frowned for the briefest of moments then put his knowing smile back on his face. He retorted with a surprisingly cheerful voice, "I know, that is why it is important that we release BTR's next single for record sales and get my cut. We're going to premiere it on JoJo's radio show tomorrow. I've picked 'Love Me, Love Me'."

Gustavo frowned and countered, "No, it should be 'Elevate'."

The gray haired gentleman slightly shook his head and firmly answered, "No, BTR's next single will be 'Love Me, Love Me' because it connects with today's twelve to twenty-one year olds that have the most disposable cash thus buying more Big Time Rush merchandise and making me more money."

The larger gentleman crossed his arms over his chest, relaxed back in his chair and sharply retorted, "No, 'Elevate'!"

Griffin took a step forward while bringing his arms behind his back. "'Love Me, Love Me'."

Gustavo got out of his seat and snapped, "'Elevate'!"

Gustavo's assistant, Kelly, a lovely young African-American woman in her late twenties slipped into the office with business notebook in hand and huffed out an annoyed breath and raised her hands to catch their attention. "Look, you do this every time a single needs to be released: argue in circles. Why not let say… Carlos decide? He's the most honest person and would make a fair assessment."

The arguing pair looked between one another then Griffin slightly frowned and answered with a raised hand, "Fine, we're not going to agree, so let Carlos to decide. Kelly's right: the fairest thing we can do is to leave it to one of them."

Gustavo grinned and eagerly agreed, knowing in an instant he'd convince Carlos into picking the right song.

Griffin put on a smug expression as he came to the same conclusion. The record owner continued, "Now with that business settled, I wanted to talk to you about a more pressing matter—"

The glasses wearing producer sharply interrupted, "More important than BTR's next single?"

Griffin smugly smiled and answered, "Yes. While you were gone, we had the Platinum Music Awards—"

He rolled his eyes as he interrupted his boss, "I saw the tape delay and it was _BORING_, except…" He nervously laughed out, "Those girls for the opening act were fantastic. Thronesmith pulled off a pretty good PR campaign before the show that actually paid off."

"Yes they certainly were and that's what I want to talk to you about."

Gustavo's smile faded as he quickly assumed that his nemesis boss would want him to take on one or even both girls and all the trouble it could cause. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of that short rivalry for his attention as what happened the previous year between his dogs and the female group 'Kat's Crew'. His doctor already stressed enough that he should avoid stress. He hesitantly asked, "So you've signed them up while we were gone and want me to manage them?"

Griffin continued to wear his grin, but Gustavo could clearly see he wasn't wearing a happy expression. This was immediately confirmed with his false happy tone, "No, they completely shot me down. Tori Vega signed with Mason while Jade West signed with Shawn Quincy of RPX Records instead of me, so they're competition. That means they affect my bottom line especially with such world wide exposure they had, so I must utterly destroy them. I don't even want them to be one hit wonders because even that will take money out of my pocket."

The songwriter gave him a curious expression joined by Kelly narrowing her eyes to the CEO.

He clasped his hands together and called out, "What I mean is that I need you to start writing a new fantastic album that will crush them as soon as they are ready to release their album."

Gustavo nervously laughed out as he motioned about with his hands, "But we just finished the second album and a world tour. We all need a break and it takes time. We don't even have demos to start picking out."

The white haired CEO laughed, "I know, but I need something at the ready to release before either can finish their debut album, so you better _get started_." He turned and headed out of the office with Obdul throwing a slightly threatening expression to Gustavo, but flirtatious smile to Kelly.

Kelly walked to the front of his desk and blinked at her boss. She threw up her hands and asked in a completely disbelieving tone, "Is he serious?"

Gustavo shrugged his shoulders and answered in an equally disbelieving tone, "Apparently so."

"He can't do that."

"I know. We weren't going to have a new album out until next year for next year's summer tour… maybe by the holidays _at the earliest_."

As he was speaking, Kelly was bringing up a webpage on her smart phone then commented, "No! I mean this." She held her phone up to show him the headline from one of the gossip sites: _'RPX's Newest Musical Sensation Jade West's Miracle Recovery'_.

Gustavo frowned and squinted his eyes then looked back to her with a perplexed expression. "'Miracle Recovery'?"

Kelly blew out a tired breath then quickly explained, "She and Tori Vega were contestants on some new game show. I guess the producer thought having them as his first contestants on the show would bring him guaranteed viewers and hook an audience for future shows, but the game was insane. They would do crazy things to the contestants when they'd get an answer wrong."

"Like?"

She threw up her hands as she finished, "Throwing unknown goo and dropping things on them. They dropped a car battery on Jade's head and it nearly killed her. The thought she was quadriplegic while she was in her coma and if she ever woke up, she'd have permanent brain damage, but now she's absolutely fine. It's being called a miracle as she woke up and she's now absolutely fine."

Gustavo snorted out a laugh and waved her off, "Now Quincy's getting into the PR act to try to one up Mason. Recovering from a car battery dropping on her head? Really?"

Kelly closed her eyes and lolled her head back to stare up at the ceiling for a moment. She looked back at her boss and patiently explained to him, "It wasn't a PR stunt. The Catholic Church is investigating it as a miracle and the producer is going to plead guilty to attempted murder. He's going to be in prison for the next ten years at least."

He laugh ceased and wore a guarded expression. He asked with a hint of disbelief, "Really?"

She nodded her head and answered, "Yes, _really_."

He put on a sour face as he turned his attention down to his desk.

"She was already getting a worldwide following from the PMAs, but now this? He wants us to purposely go head-to-head with her and Tori Vega?"

The music producer bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know, but if Griffin wants a new album, we have to give him a new album."

"The boys are not going to like that; they just got back."

He let his own frustration slip into his voice as he shouted, "I don't care! Just get the dogs in here now! And I got to have Carlos pick 'Elevate' so I can salvage something out of this day."

The royal blue blouse wearing young lady shook her head then turned to head out of the office.

* * *

Author's Note: Not much for me to say for a prologue, but I hope you'll stick around to see what I have in store. Will Griffin be able to destroy Jade and Tori without them realizing that they are in his cross-hairs? I guess we'll see.


	2. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Another chapter and I hope one you will enjoy.

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Chapter 1

Recording Studio A  
Rocqué Records  
Los Angeles, CA  
Friday, June 8, 2012

Kendall, the unofficial lead singer of the band due to Gustavo originally only wanting him as a singer and lead player when they regularly played hockey, blew out in irritated breath while he commented, "Gustavo, we just got back and we want to relax. You can't expect us to go right back into the recording studio."

James, the 'pretty boy' of the group standing next to him, lifted a finger and shouted his interruption in an irritated voice, "Relax? Don't you mean trying to violate dibs in pursuing Lucy?"

Kendall growled in frustration at the accusation.

The one James was referring to was Lucy Stone, the eighteen year old rocker musician that had moved into the Palm Woods last September and in which he had a major crush on and determined to make his girlfriend.

Kendall sharply retorted, "I am not trying to violate dibs on Lucy and I think the 'rule of dips' might be stupid."

The self-absorbed band member quickly retorted, "Without rules like dibs, there is only chaos—total girl chaos, which sounds good _but it isn't_."

Carlos and Logan, the other two members of the band looked back and forth between their friends. Logan squinted his eyes and questioned with a hint of disbelief, "Kendall is trying to violate dibs?"

He snapped his head to look at the slightly shorter teenager and replied, "She bumped into me—while running away from you and we talked; we didn't kiss."

The smart one of the group sucked in a breath through his teeth then commented, "Kendall has a point. Talking with them does not constitute a violation of a proprietary dibs claim. We're all friends with her, remember?"

James knotted his brow and curtly asked, "Whose side are you on?"

Logan was interrupting in his defense with Carlos whining in annoyance, "Why doesn't anyone care what I think our next big hit should be?"

Kendall pointed out, "Why don't just pick the song you want to play?"

Gustavo frowned and was about to interrupt, but Carlos beat him to the punch, "Because it doesn't solve the problem of them wanting to kill me."

James and Kendall simultaneously answered, "Easy, we bring hockey sticks."

The helmet wearing teenager nodded along.

The record producer rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth as he felt he had just lost even if he had no idea how them bringing hockey sticks would change anything, but was consoled by the fact that Griffin hadn't won either. He finally had enough of their bickering interrupted with a sharp tone and raised pointer fingers in the air, "I really don't care about your dogs' problems right now. Griffin is demanding that we go ahead and start on the third album."

Kendall sharply retorted with a goofy grin on his face, "A third album? We're still promoting our _second_ album."

"I know, but Griffin doesn't care. He wants an album to release the second either Tori Vega or Jade West release their first albums. They're the girls that preformed the opening number for the Platinum Music Awards—"

Carlos' eyes snapped open in wonderment looked up in a dreamy manner as he eagerly asked, "You mean the girl that looks _exactly_ like Heather Fox?"

Kendall followed up with a laugh, "And the one that looks just like Victoria Justice?"

The songwriter squinted at the helmet wearing singer and questioned, "Who's Heather Fox?"

Carlos was about to snap off an answer with an outraged face that Gustavo wouldn't know Heather Fox, the spokes-model for faceALIVE with her face on every magazine and was in every commercial, but James raised a hand, "A supermodel spokeswoman whose face is plastered _everywhere_ and old crush of Carlos's, but he couldn't get her because it turned out she got a crush on me."

The helmet wearing member frowned at the bitterness that Heather had to like James over him and only mollified by James not pursuing her and going so far as simply throwing her phone number away when given it.

Logan raised an eyebrow and a pointed finger to point out what he thought was quite absurd, "Do you know the statistical probability of two people looking exactly alike that aren't twins?"

James put on a goofy grin and raised both his hands up. "I don't care; I just know she's hot and if things don't work out for me and Lucy, she'll be mine."

Carlos raised an eyebrow with his questioning expression to his friend.

The taller teenager instantly frowned and explained, "I agreed not to go after Heather because you liked her, but that doesn't apply to super hot identical looking fantastic singers."

Kendall raised a finger and smirked as he brought up, "So you're calling dibs on a girl that already has a boyfriend? Freddie Benson, you know, the guy that use to be on iCarly?"

James countered in an annoyed, high pitched tone, with a finger of his own, "I'm well aware of Freddie Benson from my cousin Shane, but those same reports say that he's actually dating Tori Vega too, so you can't be too sure if he's really with Jade. He can't call dibs when he's seeing another girl, so she could still be mine."

The lead singer laughed, "They're living together—live in boyfriend."

Gustavo shouted as he jumped up from his seat at the piano, "Enough with you crushing on them. Stopped it!" He passed a harsh glare across them and stated with a curt and raised voice, "Those two girls are now your enemies and Griffin wants to destroy them before they get a chance to become the next big thing."

The quartet gave him a shared dumbfounded expression, but Kendall was the first to recover and ask, "Why are they our enemies? And why does Griffin want to destroy them?"

"Because they are competition for our market and two—" He held up two fingers. "They didn't sign with us and Griffin is pretty mad about it, so he doesn't want them to have a musical future. So we have to get album together for release as soon as they're ready for release and show them who is boss."

Carlos was the first to shout, "No, I won't do it! I will not try to destroy Jade West's career before it starts."

The others were about to join the chorus in protest, but Gustavo shouted them down before they could start, "You don't have a choice. This is what Griffin wants and he's going to get a new album from us as fast as I can write quality songs and you can record them. I kind of agree with him. We have a chance to crush the next big thing before they can hurt us." He took a quick breath while trying to calm his nerves then continued, "Okay, now you know what is going on, so don't go off and get into any trouble because I could call you any minute to start recording."

Kendall rolled his eyes and shook his head then looked back to Gustavo. He asked in a surprisingly respectful voice than his usual sarcastic tone, "Gustavo, when were we going to release a new album? Before Griffin told you to start a new album?"

The manager closed his mouth tightly for a moment then answered in a surprisingly calm voice, "I was planning it for next year just before another summer tour. The holidays at the earliest."

The lead singer knowingly smiled then looked to his band mates. They gave him curious expression as they didn't know where his was going until he touched his throat and whispered in a rough voice, "I'm sorry, but I think I'm coming down with a sore throat. I don't think I can sing anything anytime soon."

The other three quickly caught on then started rubbing their respective throats and coughing in an overdramatic manner.

Gustavo clenched his fat jaw tightly and softly growled for a few seconds before shouting, "Then you better get better by the time I'm ready for you to record—sooner if you go to JoJo's radio show tomorrow." He pointed towards the exit of the recording studio and shouted, "Now leave me alone so I can write!"

Kendall put on a bright smile and held his hands ups before turning and leading his band mates out of the recording studio just as Kelly passed them to enter. She blew out a breath stated bluntly, "This isn't going to work. We're going to look horrible if it looks like we are trying to purposely hurt them." She spat out in disgust, "I can see the headline now: 'BTR tries to do What Car Battery Couldn't!'"

Gustavo rolled his eyes and turned back to his piano. He flippantly remarked over his shoulder, "Well, it's going to take an act of God to stop Griffin from destroying those two."

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, I'm obviously taking advantage of the fact that Liz Gillies played Heather Fox in 'Big Time Secrets' and that she and Jade look identical. Also, for those that noticed, the actor playing James did a guest spot years ago on iCarly as Shane, so I'm saying they are related. Hope you continue to enjoy.


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note: I wonder if there will be an 'Act of God' to stop Griffin?

Rating: K+

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Chapter 2

The Palm Woods  
Los Angeles, CA  
Friday, June 8, 2012

Kendall led the other three members of BTR into the hotel room wearing downcast expressions that Mrs. Knight, Kendall's mother and de facto guardian to the other three teenagers of the group, immediately picked up on seeing. She asked with a concerned filled voice, "What's bringing you all down? You were just thrilled about coming back from a world tour."

Kendall threw out his hands to the sides and answered with a clearly false sense of cheer, "We were until Gustavo just told us that Griffin wants us to start on a new album so he can use it to destroy Tori Vega and Jade West—"

Katie Knight, Kendall younger sister, was sitting on the couch at the end of the room watching television when her eyes shot open and shouted in disbelief, "Griffin wants to do _what_?"

The band and mother turned to the tween, all sharing perplexed expressions while Katie jumped off her stool and gave her older brother a penetrating stare.

The lead singer laughed out nervously, "He wants to kill their careers before they get started and use us to do it. He's not happy that they didn't sign with Rocqué Records after they performed at the Platinum Music Awards."

Katie brought her thumb, pointer and middle fingers together of both hands as if she going to pinch something and motioned her arms as she shouted, "He can't do that! I _love_ Jade West."

Mrs. Knight continued to give them a curious expression as she asked, "Who's Tori Vega and Jade West?"

James was the first to answered, "They are these two gorgeous girls that performed the opening act at this year's Platinum Music Awards while we were on tour—"

Carlos interrupted with another dreamy expression on his face, "And Jade West looks just like Heather Fox!"

Mrs. Knight took an uneasy breath as she recalled how Carlos acted the last time the name 'Heather Fox' was brought up. She had to bribe him and James from fighting with homemade snickerdoodles.

Katie picked up while looking around the boys and her mother and asked, "And have you seen her short-films? Did you see her version of 'The Scissoring'? I was scared to death then I cried my eyes out at the ending."

Mrs. Knight nodded along trying to follow along with all that they were saying.

Her older brother knotted his brow and questioned, "You cried at the end of a horror film? The ending was that bad?"

Katie threw up her hands and happily shouted, "No, that good. She changed the ending where the main character died again in her love's arms declaring their love for one another." She looked to Logan and commented with a hint of smugness in her voice, "Now that's teen love."

Logan bowed his head slightly and slowly answered with sarcasm lacing his voice, "It was _a movie_."

She shrugged a shoulder and smirked, "Maybe, but those two love each other in real life. She nearly died and he didn't leave her side while she was in a coma. They live together."

Her redheaded mother raised her hands and shouted with a half smile, "Whoa, hold up. She was in a coma?"

"There was an accident during filming some game show and she got hit in the head and it nearly killed her. She was in a coma for a few hours and they thought she was going to die, but now—she's perfectly alright. They're literally calling it a miracle."

"And what's this about them living together? I'm not sure she's such a good role model for you if she's shacking up with some guy."

Katie cocked her head to the side, frowned and crossed her arms under her chest. "He's living with her and her mom after he moved down from Seattle."

James inserted, "Yeah, I heard the entire story from my cousin Shane. Everyone—except Shane of course—treated him horribly at school and his friends turned on him, so he moved down here to start over… he just happened to move in with a gorgeous girl—which I have my doubts that he's actually seeing."

Mrs. Knight raised an eyebrow and cautiously voiced her concerns to her daughter, "Well I'm not thrilled that you could start looking up to her with her having a live in boyfriend."

The younger Knight sibling shook her head to disregard her mother's concern then turned to Logan and stated in an unyielding position, "Sorry Logan, but you have to figure out your love science with Camille on your own."

"Katie, I need your—"

"No!" She turned and walked passed him and out the door.

Kendall called out, "What are you going to do baby sis?"

"I'm going to try to figure out a way to stop Griffin."

Logan snorted out an irritated breath through his nose then tried to retort in a smug tone while shouting down the hallway after her, "Fine, I'll figure it out on my own!" He turned and headed back to his room.

Palm Wood Pool Side

Katie sat at the table by the pool in a foul mood as she had been sitting there for the last half hour thinking, but she didn't have a clue how she could stop Griffin from trying to use BTR in an attempt to ruin Jade and Tori just because they wouldn't sign with him. She couldn't sabotage any kind of album for the obvious reason that she would be sabotaging them.

She groaned in frustration and glanced up at the blue L.A. sky. "Please? I could use some help. I don't have a clue on how to stop Griffin without hurting BTR at the same time. Come on, You just saved Jade; You can't let her career be destroyed before it happens."

All she heard back was silence as she crossed her arms and slumped back into her chair… actually silence was not all she heard, but a few moments later, a soft fluttering of air sounded behind her as if flapping wings. She turned to look over her shoulder to see if some bird had landed behind her, but instead saw a handsome teenager in his late teens. He stood at about five foot eight or nine with a lean, muscular frame and short, light brown hair, styled in a classic tapered haircut, but it was getting a little wild in the front.

The most striking thing she had noticed about his under his unbuttoned denim shirt was that he was wearing a grey Penny-T T-shirt (something she had desperately been trying to get a hold of since seeing Jade wear one during her PMA performance, but hers still was on back order from the company) with the words 'Fade/Jeddie Shipper' printed across the chest.

He cleared his throat and cautiously greeted the girl, "Hi?"

She blinked several times to gather her wits then questioned, "Ah hi?"

He nervously looked around then asked, "Sorry, but ah… I overheard you could use some help with… something about saving Jade's career before it's destroyed? Did you mean Jade West? The girl that performed on the PMAs a few weeks back?"

She slightly frowned and let her shoulders slump. She motioned for him to have a seat across from her at the table.

He accepted the invitation to sit with her then she answered with a melancholy tone while seeing no point in not answering his question, "Yes, Jade West. Arthur Griffin is a big CEO and he owns Rocqué Records wants to destroy Tori Vega and Jade West before they can become stars. He wants BTR to get a new album together as soon as possible so when they're ready to release their album he can release it in the hopes of crushing them. He's mad that they didn't sign with him and now they're going to cost him money."

Dusty clenched his jaw tightly then stated in a curt tone, "Then we stop him."

She sat up straight in her seat then leaned forward to rest her forearms on the table and asked, "What's this 'we' stop him? I don't know and how exactly are we going to do that? I can't sabotage BTR; my brother's in the band and the rest are my friends. They're my family."

"I'm going to help you because you need my help and… Jade's my friend."

"Get out!" she laughed out in disbelief then gave him a challenging stare in an attempt to get him to admit he was lying.

He wore a soft, but confident smirk as he met her stare and leaned his mostly bared forearms from his rolled up sleeves to his elbows on the table surface.

She slightly tilted her head to the side and questioned in a slightly mocking tone, "You're Jade West's friend?"

"Yes, she's my friend. We go to Hollywood Arts together. I'm the one that put her short-films up and I worked on her last one; her take on 'The Scissoring'. My name is in the credits. You can check that on our Slap pages. I am one of her few follow backs and to address your point that you don't know me, I'm Dustin Hale; people call me Dusty."

The tween sat up in her seat as she recognized the name from the credits. She pulled out her phone and started bringing up Jade's Slap page then clicked the 'friends' link to get to Dusty's page. She looked down at the profile picture of Dustin Hale's Slap page then back up to him. She commented with a guarded tone, "You could be him."

He rolled his eyes then stuffed his hand in his front jean pocket then pulled out his wallet. He opened it up and handed it over to her. She took a quick peak at his license and his Hollywood Arts ID then looked up from the wallet with a knotted brow. "Your first name's Henry?"

He slightly frowned while taking back the wallet then dryly answered, "It's my great-grandfather's name."

The young brunette's breath started taking short breaths then quickly asked, "Okay, you're her friend; what happened? They say a car battery dropped on her head and nearly killed her, but now she's fine. People are calling it a miracle."

He timidly answered, "It was a miracle."

"How do you know that?"

He softly rolled his eyes and answered, "Because of the extent of her injuries compared to how she's now absolutely fine while completely unexplainable with current medical knowledge?"

Katie slightly frowned then asked in a timid voice, "How bad was she hurt? Really? Not just what they said on the gossip websites."

Dusty leaned back in his chair then answered in a guarded tone, "I'm not going to discuss the details of what her medical condition was. Like you said, I don't know you either and I'm not going to violate my friend's trust."

She nodded along to accept the explanation. "Okay, I'm Katie Knight and my brother is Kendall Knight and he's in the band Big Time Rush and I'm a huge fan of Jade West."

"Well then, it looks like we're in the same camp in trying to stop this Griffin fellow… but I'm still not going to give you personal information about my friend."

She held up a hand. "Okay, I get it."

He politely nodded his head then continued, "Now that introductions and a little back-story are out of the way, are you going to accept my help or am I going to do this separately and we step on each others toes while trying to take down the king?"

She tilted her head forward and gave him a questioning expression. "Take down the king?"

"Yes, this Griffin guy is the key. It would be simpler to try to sabotage the hockey players because quite frankly Jade and Vega are my only concern and I couldn't care less if your brother and his friends never made another song again, but… that doesn't help _you_. So, we deal with him then Jade and Vega are alright along with your brother and his _boy band_."

"You think we can do that?"

He shrugged a shoulder and flippantly remarked, "Well… my dad and uncle took down the King of Hell, so I think I can take down one record company owner."

Katie's eyes shot open and looked to him as if he was insane, but didn't get to comment on it as he continued, "Tell me what you know about this Griffin? You have to know something since your brother works for him."

She shook her head to clear her thoughts then answered, "The most important thing that you have to know about Griffin is he always has to get his way and the most important thing to him is money—getting more of it actually."

The Carolinian braced his elbow against the table and held his left hand over his mouth then nodded his head as he contemplated her words.

She asked with a slightly impatient tone, "Okay, what?"

He dropped his hand away from his mouth and softly smirked to the tween. "Then that's what we use against him: his power and his greed."

"What?"

"Jade and Vega turning him down offended him sense of being able to control things—his sense of omnipotence—so he feels he needs to destroy them to regain his power and the whole cutting into his bottom line just pi—ticks him off," he quickly corrected himself at the end as to not use possibly harsh language in front of her. "We can use that against him. Pit those two things against one another and in the process, it forces him to do what we want him to do—which is to not destroy Jade and Vega or your band."

"How?"

He snorted out a laugh, "I got to figure that part out."

Her mouth became a thin line then narrowed her gaze on him and asked in disbelief, "That's it? That's all you got?"

"I've figured that out in less than a minute. How long have you been sitting here trying to think of anything?"

She crossed her arms under her chest and muttered, "Point."

"Now to figure out exactly _how_ we're going to do this, I need to learn everything I can about his company, so it's hitting the books, but… since this is the early twenty-first century, it means hitting the net to do that research." He gave her a boyish grin and asked, "Do you have a computer I can use?"

* * *

Author's note: And the plot thickens. I hope the next update will be in a day or two.  
Guest star Cody Christian as Henry Dustin "Dusty" Hale


	4. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Another chapter that I hope you enjoy. I hope I'm being true to these characters I've never written before.

Rating: T Language

* * *

Chapter 3

BTR's Hotel Room  
The Palm Woods  
Los Angeles, CA  
Friday, June 8, 2012

Kendall and Carlos were sitting on the living room side of the kitchen counter getting ready to start on their respective lunches consisting of a sandwich and chips while Mrs. Knight was preparing Katie's lunch and hoping she wouldn't have to hunt down her daughter. James was giving his band mate the 'evil' eye as he still didn't believe that Kendall was completely honest about honoring dibs when it came to Lucy.

The hotel room door open and Katie quickly walked inside with Dusty cautiously following behind her, examining the surroundings. On his right there were various shelves of filled with generic electronic toys of robots, dinosaurs and remote control motorcycles and lava lamps. Directly in his line of sight going from a few yards into the room to the end of the room was a small dinner table and an L-shaped orange couch. On his left was a small kitchen area. The rest of the hotel room had various decorations related to hockey with the expected number of hockey sticks in plastic bins.

Mrs. Knight turned in her spot and happily began, "Great, you're here; I don't have to track you dow—oh ah… hi?" The dyed redhead looked Dusty up and down then looked to her daughter.

Dusty smiled and politely nodded his head. "Ma'am."

The older Knight sibling gave a cautious glance to the other teenager then with a false sense of casualness asked his sister, beating their mother to the question, "Ah Katie, who's your new friend?"

She thumbed over her shoulder. "This is Dusty; he's a friend of Jade West. He's here to help me stop Griffin."

He raised an eyebrow and doubtfully questioned, "Really? He just dropped when you needed him?"

Dusty softly smirked to the singer and teasingly answered, "Let's just say I heard her prayer and winged over."

The teenagers and mother were passed concerned glances among themselves.

Katie slumped her shoulders and blew out a breath before retorting their expressions, "You want to check his school webpage to prove it and see some ID?"

Mrs. Knight smiled to Dusty and gladly accepted the offer from her daughter, "I'd love to see his ID."

The L.A. immigrant returned the smile and pulled out his wallet and hand it to her. "I'm glad someone is making some sense around here."

The Knight matriarch turned her head slightly to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm an eighteen year old that just walked a…" He turned to Katie and asked with a knotted brow, "How old are you?"

"Twelve."

He motioned with a hand to the tween while looking back to the redhead. "…twelve year old girl through this hotel and no one said a word. A little creepy if you ask me."

Mrs. Knight frowned at his point before opening his three fold wallet and taking a quick look at his driver's license and student ID. She looked up from the license and commented with a pleasant tone, "Henry?"

He continued to wear his smile and answered, "It's my great-grandfather's name."

"It's a nice name."

"Thank you ma'am."

Kendall laughed out, "Well _Henry_. I'm Kendall; this is Carlos and this James."

Dusty have a half-hearted wave and politely answered, "Nice to meet you."

Mrs. Knight handed the wallet back to him while asking, "Sweetie, why aren't you in school?"

He graciously answered while slipping his wallet back in his pocket, "I'm on a religious walkabout after what happened to Jade. You see a miracle and it does something to you… you have to take some time to process that."

Carlos looked off in a dreamy manner. "Jade West… as beautiful as Heather Fox."

Dusty raised a curious eyebrow at what looked like a schoolboy reaction to him. He wasn't sure who he should have been concerned for: Freddie or himself.

Kendall laughed out in explanation to their guest, "Don't mind him. He's been nursing a crush on Heather for years since they went to camp together and seeing and hearing about Jade fanned the flame back up."

James spoke up to add, "He thought she was the love of his life and should have been married to her already, but…" He smirked while polishing his left hand nails on his shirt. "…then she has this _major_ crush on me, so that kind of shot that plan down."

Dusty's brow knotted and mouth became a thin line as he gave the helmet wearing teenager a quick glance. "Well someone needs to douse him pretty quickly and I _highly_ doubt that she is crushing on _you._"

The taller teenager tilted his head to the side and smirked as he smugly answered, "As if you would know." He raised a finger as he continued to wear a smile. "However, I will be nice and tell you how and why she had a crush on me… probably still nursing one… It all started with Carlos. We all went to summer camp years ago and she had a crush on Carlos. She wanted me to pass along a note, but since I had a crush on her too, I threw it away. I finally admitted to it a few months back and tried to make it up to him by getting them to meet again."

Carlos excitedly picked up, "We recreated summer camp and spent most of the day together, but…" His voice dropped in a downbeat tone, "…she got a crush on James."

Dusty cautiously questioned, "So what did you do?"

James finished with a self-congratulating tone, "He gave me the note, but I threw away the note without calling her. I couldn't do that to my friend a second time. I wasn't going to violate dibs… she wasn't worth it." He passed a quick warning glance Kendall to reiterate his point.

Dusty slightly bowed his head and clenched his jaw tightly. He whispered out slowly, "As noble as it _may_ be not to go for the girl your friend has a crush on, you couldn't have had the decency to call her and explain the situation than just leaving her hanging for you to call?"

He smirked while answering, "Carlos couldn't work up the nerve to tell her he liked her, so I couldn't exactly call her explain the whole crisscross crushing thing to her now could I?" He turned to make the short distance to the transparent door of the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water then back to Dusty to flippantly laugh off, "I mean it's not like it was any big deal. Supermodel spokes girls come and go, but best friends…" He glanced to Carlos with a smirk. "…forever." He held up a hand to reach over and high-five Carlos which the helmet wearing teenager held up his hand and met it.

James took a quick sip from the bottle of water as a soft growl emanated from the Southern teenager's throat and gave James a harsh stare as his mind recalled the end of his prom night…

_He tried to let out a disarming laugh, but it was clear to both that it was filled with awkwardness, "I guess… I guess I'll see you around on TV and magazi—"  
_

_He was cut off with Heather cupping his left cheek, turning his head to face her and placing a soft kiss on his lips. His eyes shot open in surprise from the pleasant contact._

_Heather pulled back a few moments later and met equally shocked, wide opened eyes from her action. She broke the silence with a nervous barely audible whisper, "Call me." She palmed a piece of paper into his right hand then pulled away, opened the door, stepped out of car. She pulled off his jacket to set in the passenger seat then closed the door and headed towards her front door while putting her cowboy hat back on her head._

_Dusty's eyes shot open and he jaw slightly slacked as he watched the retreating form of the model. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a bashful smile with a tip of her hat._

_He looked down at the piece of paper and saw her name with a heart on each side and a phone number under the name. Once he shook off the shock, he did the most logical course of action: he immediately pulled out his PearPhone and stored the number while trying to memorize the number as quickly as possible._

James swallowed down his water as Dusty's stare was becoming unnerving. However before he could say anything to try to break the tension, the lights in the room started dimming and returning to their normal light levels through several cycles. All the occupants turned their attention to the wall, ceiling and decorative lights.

Katie pointed to the ceiling and oddly commented, "Ah, what's wrong with the lights?"

No one had a chance to answer her as all the various electronic toys sitting on the assorted shelves on the right side of the room started to move, flash their lights and beep. The toys that could move started moving their arms and legs while the motorcycle toys started spinning their wheels.

Dusty ignored the spectacle of the lights and noise as he kept his focus on James.

The pretty boy of the band looked back with wide eyes and for a moment thought that Dusty was somehow responsible for what was happening.

The Southern teenager took several breaths to calm his nerves and the next moment the toys stopped moving and lights returned to normal. The others looked around to double check to see what was going on with their eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

Katie raised her hands and commented in surprise, "Okay, that was freaky."

Logan stepped out of his room and rounded the pillar wearing a grey T-shirt with the words 'TACKLE' printed in red across his chest to ask in disbelief, "What just happened?" He looked to Dusty, pointed and asked, "And who is he?"

He was ignored as Dusty hissed out, catching James attention, "Heather is not some disposable girl whose feelings you can just blatantly disregard because you have some stupid notion that she's just a dim a dozen model and it wouldn't matter to her that you didn't call. She is a sweet, loving and kind girl that you should have shown some respect to her and her feelings and if I wasn't a guest in Miss Knight's home at the moment and be quite disrespectful towards her… I'd knock that smirk right off your face and you'd be _a lot_ less pretty."

James swallowed down nervously and took a step backwards.

Mrs. Knight raised her hands and took a step beside them to separate them. "Whoa, whoa, no fighting!"

Dusty looked to the redheaded mother and respectfully corrected, "It wouldn't be a fight ma'am. I'd hit him, he'd go down and he wouldn't get back up on his own."

The taller teenager pursed his lips and let his fear play on his face.

Kendall spoke up with his curiosity filling his voice, "Why do you care so much?"

Dusty turned his attention to the older Knight sibling. "Other than defending a lady? Isn't that enough?"

Mrs. Knight concern turned to curiosity from the young man's statement especially since it looked like a fight wouldn't break out and could see the point (and secretly agree) that James and Carlos thoughtlessly disregarded Heather's feelings.

Logan smirked while calling out, "You know chivalry died out in the late Middle-Ages?"

He turned slightly and looked over his right shoulder. "I'm from the South; it's lasted a little longer there."

James found some of his confidence and laughed out, "Isn't that cute: the new boy is white knighting for a girl he'll never meet."

Dusty smirked while he retorted, "Perhaps, but you just admitted that you were wrong. Maybe one day you'll work up the courage to apologize to her."

The taller teenager looked away slightly embarrassed and took a sip from his bottle water in blatantly false casualness. He continued in self-assured voice, "Yes well… anyway, Heather may be off-limits, but that doesn't mean Jade West is and if Lucy doesn't work out, Jade will be mine."

Carlos deeply frowned, Kendall rolled his eyes and shook his head and Mrs. Knight decided to remain silent.

Dusty looked away embarrassed for the singer then cleared his throat before gently bringing up, "You do realize that she is quite attached to Freddie Benson?"

The taller teenager snorted out a breath then softly laughed, "You mean when he's not dating Tori Vega? I've read the gossip of them seen going out on several dates before the PMAs, so she may not be as attached as you think."

Dusty smirked, but it wasn't a friendly one as he mockingly retorted, "You just accused my friend of being unfaithful on his girlfriend… those are fighting words where I come from and if you try to touch Jade West without her permission—which you will not get—Freddie Benson will make you into a bloody mess. The last guy that tried that, he sent to the hospital and it took a colonel in the US Air Force Special Forces to pull him off the guy before he could send him to the morgue."

Mrs. Knight spoke up in concern, "Your friend sounds very violent."

"Well ma'am, the court saw it as him protecting his girlfriend from an attempted rape and kidnapping, whether or not that was Papperman's intention or not and now he's sitting in juvie and he's not getting out until he's twenty-one."

The redheaded matriarch eyes shot open as she quickly had to reevaluate Freddie while the others looked on equally as surprised.

He glanced between the other teenagers and whispered in a cold tone, "And if you got any ideas about wanting to jump in to protect your buddy… just because it would be two on four odds… the odds wouldn't be in your favor simply because you out number us."

Kendall put on a big grin and commented with a laugh, "So it's not a good idea to call dibs on a girl that _already has a boyfriend_."

James deeply frowned as he looked back on his friend and band mate which Kendall responded by started back on his lunch.

Logan spoke up and motioned to the door with his head now that apparently everything had settled, "Katie, grab a measuring cup and let's go."

The brunette turned and crossed her arms under her chest. "No, I don't understand teen love, remember?"

"We have to find out whose coaching Camille and meddling with my love science. Now grab a measuring cup and let's go."

"No, I'm busy trying to figure out a way to stop Griffin's plan to ruin Jade and Tori, but without you know, ruining Big Time Rush. You guys can't fake sore throats for the next six months."

Logan slightly frowned at seeing her point.

Dusty knotted his brow and asked, "What is 'Love Science'?"

The science inclined band member motioned to the Carolinian and asked, "Who are you again?"

The denim shirt wearing teenager happily answered, "Cliff's notes version: Dusty Hale; I'm a friend of Jade West. I heard Katie's prayer, so I'm here to help save my friend's career before Griffin can destroy it without destroying your band in the process. Now what is 'Love Science'?"

Katie nodded her head and casually explained, "He thinks he can work out love through science and right now it is telling him that the best way to get back with his ex-girlfriend is to try to get her to chase after him and tackle him—"

Logan interrupted to finish the explanation himself, "And thus, protecting me from being in the dating disadvantage of being the pursuer rather than be the pursuee."

Dusty clicked his tongue and shook his head, "So you're playing childish games with love…" He glanced to James and dismissively sniped, "Well at least you're in good company."

He raised a hand and sharply retorted, "It's not childish, it's love science and don't question it."

The older teenager cocked his head to the side and sharply retorted, "If you can't question it then by definition it's not science, but _blind_ religious faith." He snorted out a breath as he looked away, "Probably believes in manmade global warming too."

The dark haired singer deeply frowned and gave him an annoyed stare.

Dusty shook his head and patiently replied the other teenager's expression, "Let me save you the trouble of having to use science to discover the truth of love, since science is a tool in discovering the truth: look up first Corinthians chapter thirteen verses four through eight and that'll tell you what love is."

Logan threw up his hands and laughed in disbelief, "You just mocked me by calling my love science blind religious faith then you quote Scripture for a definition of love?"

Dusty bowed his head, closed his eyes and let out a patient breath. He looked back up and answered in a calm, but firm voice, "I said _blind_ religious faith, not _true_ religious faith, but if you need a straight up cold hard reality example, I'll give you one." He took a few steps to the music star to look him straight in the eyes. "I saw what love is. I saw my friend pledge his love and the rest of his life to the girl he absolutely loves despite the fact that she probably only had hours left to live and if she survived and _ever_ woke up from her coma —and that was a big _if _on both accounts—she probably wouldn't be her anymore and would need constant care for the rest of her life, but he did it anyway. And do you know why?"

Logan swallowed nervously and somehow maintained eye contact.

"Because _that is love_. A man's love, not a boy's love… as obviously you are demonstrating with this childish behavior. Now don't compare your silly games to love because you don't know what the Heaven it is, because if you did, you'd go right to your ex and tell her how you feel and what you want."

The analytically minded teenager mouth opened and closed several times as his mind processed what the other teenager had spoken. He thumbed over to his left towards the door and muttered, "I'm… I'm going to go." He took off almost as a dash to the door and Dusty gave him a sympathetic expression while he walked out the door.

Mrs. Knight thumbed over to the door and questioned in a tone of motherly lecture, "Don't you think that was a little harsh young man?"

He turned and met the Knight matriarch's eyes. "With all due respect ma'am, you didn't see your friend a broken, helpless man and an equally physically broken woman that short of an act of God was ever going to be put back together again yet a love made stronger by what they went through. He wanted the truth, so I told him the truth in all its brutality."

The light redhead gave him a sympathetic expression while he took a deep breath at seeing on the other side of the gateway into her soul. He quickly looked away and spoke with a forced casualness towards Katie, but refused to meet her eyes, "Katie, what about that laptop I could use?"

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope to get another chapter or two out tomorrow. Take care.


	5. Chapter 4

Hello, I have another short chapter for you. I hope it is enough since I wrote this in installment plans so to speak.

Rating: T Language

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Chapter 4

Dusty sat at the curved brown table behind the L-shaped couch and to the backside of the hockey table top game. His focus was on the screen of Katie's red cased laptop. It wasn't as user friendly as a PearBook, but it was getting the job done as he was reading up on Arthur Griffin and his company.

Katie patiently sat beside him, ate on her lunch and read along the teenager even if she felt they were just sitting idly by instead of doing something to help Jade and Tori.

Carlos had took off after lunch to hide from both Gustavo and Griffin if either decided to find him and try to pressure him to pick one of their songs for the new single.

Kendall and James had sat aside their argument about Lucy for the moment and were sitting on the kitchen side of the dinning room table so they could observe their 'guest' while looking on another laptop. They were in the process of doing research on said guest through his Slap page at Hollywood Arts. The first thing they noticed that his very few tweets were almost exclusively related to technical announcements in regard to the site (two and a half months old of course), he had no pictures or videos posted. However, he had a few friends he followed and they followed through the site's interface with TwitFlash and started looking through them, but before they could thoroughly go through them, they noticed a girl named Ava link to a video on SplashFace and SchnoopTube with Dusty's name in it.

Dusty rubbed his right finger under his bottom lip as he idly commented while reading off the screen, "Okay, he's the CEO of RCMCBT Global Net Sanyoid Corporation and considered the fourth most powerful CEO on the planet. He bought out Rocqué Records to become a subsidiary a few years back, but… it looks like he bought it more as a toy because until the hockey players showed up, he wasn't making any money off of it."

"Because he thinks he understands the music industry but he barely has clue, but I already know everything about the record industry."

He leaned back in the blue chair and smiled at the tween. He commented with an upbeat tone, "Then we're going to use that as our advantage in the greed department, because I don't really now about the record industry other than it is run by people that will use you anyway they can to make themselves money. Mason Thornesmith was ready to completely destroy Jade and Vega to line his pockets."

"Not all of them, but… what about the 'power department'? You said we were going to use both to get Griffin to do what we wanted."

"That was the point of the research. I'm getting a handle on his power base."

"His 'power base'?"

"What keeps him on top. He's a king and like any king—other than Jesus Christ—he needs lords to support him and in this case… it's his stockholders and the board of directors of his very publicly traded company and that's where we will take his power."

Her brow shot up and eagerly asked, "How?"

"I'm working on it, but my general idea is that if we can show them that his plan to try to destroy Jade and Vega will cost _them_ money, they'll put the brakes on anything he'll attempt to do. That's why they own stock in the company in the first place: to make money and the fastest way to tick someone off is to mess with their money. Don't ever mess with someone's bread and butter unless you really are looking for a fight."

The brunette smirked and eagerly nodded her head. "I like where this is going."

"You might like this better as this is where you come in with your advantage of knowing about the music industry."

She smirked. "Do tell."

"While I show them why his decision could be bad and them saying no, you'll give them something to say yes to that won't bring BTR into direct competition with Jade and Vega. I tell them no and you give them something to say yes to."

"And what's that?"

"I don't know. You got to figure that out with your knowledge. What would you do if you had a chance to manage BTR—correction, the entire record company? How would _you_ make _them_ money?"

Katie blinked and knotted her brow as at first she was caught off guard by the question then her mind shifted into gear if she was put in charge. However, her thoughts were interrupted by her brother and James' laptop starting to blare out some music.

Dusty knotted his brow as he instantly recognized the video the other two playing: _"…I'm an angel with a shotgun, fighting til' the war's won, I don't care if Heaven won't take me back. I'll throw away my faith, babe, just to keep _you_ safe. Don't you know you're everything I have? And IIIIII…., wanna live, not just survive, tonight."_

James eyes shot up to look at Dusty and stated in shock, "You can sing?!"

Kendall stared on just as shocked as he quickly agreed, "You can really sing."

Katie jumped out of her seat and dashed over to stand behind her brother and James to look over their shoulders at the computer screen.

_"...and I'm gonna hide, hide, HIDE my wings TONIGHT!" _The lighting finished its routine on his last line to flash behind him so to the audience it looked like a pair of shadow feathery wings formed perfectly behind him.

Katie turned her focus on Dusty and questioned, "You can sing?"

The blue eyed teenager rolled his eyes and blew out a breath, "Yes, I can sing. I do go to a performing arts high school, so I do have _some_ talent."

"No, you can _really_ sing."

He softly shook his head. "That's only because my mother has the voice of an angel."

Kendall curiously asked, "Have you thought about going into music? You're that good."

James narrowed his eyes on his band mate as if disapproving his suggestion to the Southern teenager.

Dusty crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. "Nope, I really don't want to have anything to do with the entertainment industry. I was planning to go into welding or die casting, maybe do both after technical college, but I'm not sure right now. Last week kind of threw everything off for me."

The older Knight sibling's brow furled and asked the obvious question, "Then why go to a performing arts high school if you don't want to go into the entertainment industry?"

"Because the high school that I had to go to in my school distract was really, really bad and I had to get out of there so I could get a diploma that was actually worth something or before I killed someone."

The three started to laugh until Dusty interrupted with a calm voice, "No, I mean literally kill someone because it is that bad. Just look up Northridge High School in the Unified Los Angeles school district." He got up from his seat and closed the laptop in front of him. "But… you'll have to do that without me." He looked Katie as he walked around the table and continued, "Come on Katie, you can think of all your suggestions on our way to Rocqué Records."

She passed a quick glance to Kendall then questioned, "Why are we going to Rocqué Records? The board isn't there."

"True, but Griffin will be there, specifically his phone."

"His phone?"

He stopped just in front of the tween and answered, "We don't know when the next board meeting is going to be and even if we did, there's no way we're going to be able to get in to see them, so we have to bring the board to us. I assume that Griffin has that information in his phone so—"

Katie put on a bright expression and snapped her fingers as she realized the end of his train of thought. "We get his phone and use it to get them to come to Rocqué Records so we can get them to stop him?"

He gave a supportive smile and pointed to the brunette. "Exactly. Now we just have to find Carlos. Where would Carlos hide if he was still here?"

Katie knotted her brow in an instant and asked, "Why do we need Carlos?"

"Because I want to make sure Griffin will be there and he'll be there if Carlos will be there to let them know his decision about which song to pick."

Kendall softly laughed out to interrupt, "But he's already going to pick the song he wants to pick, not Griffin."

Dusty rolled his eyes. "He's not really going to pick Griffin's song—I really don't care what he does—I just need him to think Carlos will be picking his song so he'll show up."

The older Knight sibling turned the corner of his lips down and nodded. "So you're going to get him to lie?"

"Only if it's necessary, but all he has to say is he wants to tell him in person."

Katie clapped her hands together and happily stated, "Okay, then let's find Carlos and save Jade and Tori's careers."

Dusty motioned a hand towards the door. "Lead the way to Carlos."

The brunette tween snorted out a breath then led the Southern teenager out the door.

Kendall blew out a breath and silently wished them luck, but his thoughts didn't go any further as he was pulled out of them by James grabbing his shoulders and turning him to look at the screen while shouting, "Heather Fox follows him on TwitFlash? She only follows a handful of people and I'm not one of them! How?!"

Palm Woods' Lobby

As Katie led Dusty to the elevator, she curiously asked, "Would you have fought James?"

He gently corrected her as they reached the elevator and tapped the button, "It wouldn't have been a fight; it would have been a beat down."

"Why? Why did you get so upset about Heather? Do you have a crush on her or something?"

Dusty slightly bowed his head then whispered out, "Because it offended me as a man that those two would treat her that way and… I personally know Heather."

Katie curiously asked, "How?"

The former webmaster of Hollywood Arts' school website patiently answered, "We met just before Easter and we worked together on one of Jade's short films when she made a very special guest appearance."

Katie slapped her forehead with her palm and muttered out as she felt stupid, "That's right; she played in Jade's film as the live version of Tawny."

"Yes and she was quite good at it. She wants to get into acting and it was a fun opportunity for her."

The brunette raised an eyebrow and cautiously questioned, "So are you two friends now?"

Dusty cleared his throat then glanced to the tween just as the elevator doors were opening, "We're ah… talking." He took a step inside the elevator and she quickly followed him inside.

He tapped the bottom floor button while she raised her hands and used her fingers to air quote, "Talking? What does that mean? Is that more 'Teenage Love' I supposedly don't understand and you just got onto Logan about?"

The blew out a tired breath then wearily answered, "No, it means… that we are figuring out if we are compatible and want to be together. We're just not jumping into anything. We just kind of randomly met through sheer chance and come from two different worlds: I come from a blue collar background with no interest in being a part of the entertainment industry, she's a supermodel; I'm a Southern, she's a Yankee originally; I'm Protestant, she's Catholic; I can be… less than tactful and she can be very shy with her feelings and mindful of what she says with hardly a word against anyone."

Katie's first thought was how could a supermodel be shy, but instead nodded then asked in an innocent yet probing tone, "Does any of that matter to you?"

He softly smiled to her and shook his head. "Not a bit."

"So do you want to be her boyfriend?"

He blew out a breath, "It's not about what I want anymore…"

"Then what is it about?"

He glanced up at the ceiling of the elevator. "Unfortunately it isn't that simple anymore."

She rolled her eyes then asked, "What complicated it?"

"I embraced what I really am."

She was just about to ask him what he meant, but the elevator doors open and he stepped out. "So where is Carlos hiding?"

* * *

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed a little insight to Dusty's view on his relationship with Heather. Yes, I am mixing and matching the shows' respective parodies of things like Youtube. I hope to have another chapter or two up by the weekend. Thanks for reading.


	6. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Hello everyone. I have another short little chapter for you. I hope you continue to enjoy this short story and I appreciate the reads.

Challenge King: Thank you. I hope this chapter is just as entertaining.

Jeremy Shane: Thanks and here's more.

PD31: I'm not really a fan of it either, but I've grown a soft spot for the Katie character through watching research, but it's outside my comfort zone in writing, so I think it gives a benefit to my writing. Watching the episodes for Liz, Miranda and Victoria are very fine reasons to watch the show. Dusty has to save Jedi's bacon again and this time they don't even know it.

Rating: K+

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Chapter 5

Katie caught up with the Southern teenager then took the lead to cut through the lobby and headed for where she believed Carlos was hiding. However just as they were passing the check-in desk, they were stopped by Lucy Stone, inspiring rock musician and currently the center of James' and Kendall's disagreement about 'dibs', as she was rounding the corner of the check-in desk on the entrance side of the lobby.

The lovely older teenager with raven hair and red streaks on various places through her hair was holding a large sign in her left hand and wearing a large cardboard board in front of her. The signs had large pictures of Kendall's face with statements of her calling dibs on him and that other girls should back off.

Katie blew out a breath and palmed her forehead for a moment then commented, "You're in on this dibs thing too?"

"Hey, I'm just showing how idiotic your brother—" She stopped when she finally noticed Dusty standing beside the younger Knight sibling. She smile to the lean teenager and gave a friendly smile. "Hi."

He politely smiled in return and answered, "Hello ma'am."

She knotted her brow and slightly frowned. "Ma'am?"

He slightly tilted his head to the side and teasingly smiled, "I'm old fashion and I make no apologies for it."

She knotted her brow in not knowing what to make of the statement, but she found the smile he was giving her to be quite pleasant.

Katie pointed to Dusty and started introductions, "This is Dusty. Dusty, this is Lucy Stone."

He politely nodded his head and returned, "Miss Stone."

The inspiring rocker looked to Katie with a perplexed expression then hesitantly questioned, "Miss? Where did you come from? Another planet? Another time?"

He gave her his charming smile that he got from his father and happily answered, "Carolina actually… might as well be another planet from L.A." He knotted his brow and jokingly asked, "Has anyone said that you have a passing resemblance to Carly Shay from iCarly?"

Her eyes shot open then answered, "Yes, yes they have," then gave him a bashful expression.

He continued to smile while Katie rolled her eyes and blew out an impatient breath. She raised a hand and interrupted, "Could you two flirt later."

Lucy snapped her attention to Katie and slightly frowned.

Dusty chuckled, "Little one, that's not flirting, that's being nice and respectful."

She held up her hands and closed her eyes for a moment. She opened her eyes and impatiently commented, "I don't care what you call it. We're kind of in a hurry."

The younger Knight's statement peaked Lucy's interest due to Katie being 'in a hurry' with a guy her age she had never heard a mention about. "About what?"

Katie answered in an exasperated breath, "To stop Griffin from using BTR to destroy Jade West and Tori Vega's careers before they get started because neither signed with Rocqué Records after the Platinum Music Awards."

Lucy's eyes shot open. "What?"

Dusty picked up, "Yeah, he's apparently kind of petty that way and we're going to show him the error of that choice."

"He can't do that—those two were fantastic. Jade rocked the show. _I_ want to buy her album when it comes out. Heck, I'd love to jam with her sometime."

"Figures you'd like her—leather jacket, the hair coloring, but she's partial to green and blue, but she did use to wear a shade of pink and she's started to pick up wearing purple."

The red streaked hair teenager waved them off with her free hand and quickly spoke, "Go, go, save Jade and Tori."

"Good," Katie quickly answered and started walking around her to find Carlos.

However, Dusty lazily pointed to the signs with his left finger and asked, "Would you take a second and humor me and explain what is going on with the signs?"

Katie stopped in her tracks and slumped her shoulders in frustration.

Lucy blew out an annoyed breath and quickly answered, "James dibs-ed me so that Kendall can't talk to me at all without having to run around in his underwear, so I figured I'd show him what it was liked to be dibs-ed. Do you know what dibs means? Dealer Identification Book, as in farmers would put a chalk mark on the back of cows that were for sell. Do I look like cow to you?"

"Well, knowing you for less than a minute…" He muttered softly under his breath in the hopes she wouldn't hear him, "…seeing directly into your soul…" He picked back up with a cheerful tone, "I think you are a very lovely and nice girl, but it's quite sad that you feel that the only way you'll be taken seriously as a rocker is to hide behind this mysterious rocker chick persona."

She knotted her brow and slightly shook her head. "This isn't an act."

"Then you wouldn't—_couldn't_ drop it because it would be a part of you for your parents to hide the fact you're a rocker so you parents wouldn't retaliate like they did to your bother and send him to military school. Which doesn't make _any sense_ why you would be afraid of what they could do since you're eighteen and legally an adult and this is the US, not janked up China."

Lucy took a step back and fearfully asked, "How do you know that?" She clenched her jaw tightly and finished with a harsh tone, "Are you a spy for my parents?"

Katie looked to him completely confused at this turn of events.

He nervously chuckled, "I accidentally glimpsed into your soul when I met your eyes. I'm still trying to figure out how to _completely_ turn that off and still having trouble with it…" He laughed and pointed to the ceiling, "At least I finally figured out how to block the incoming Wi-Fi signal into my head."

The rocker musician cocked her head to the side and outright glared at him from what she saw as him mocking her.

He raised both his pointer fingers in the air and laughed and quickly explained so fast that his words nearly ran into each other, "Got to go, but one last thing: You stop this whole dibs thing with James by grabbing him by the shoulders then kneeing him as hard as you can in the groan then tell him that if he continues to interfere in your relationships, you're going to keep kneeing him until you pop one of his balls. If he still hasn't gotten the message, you knee him until you pop the other one, because that is not how 'dibs' works. It only means that your guy friends will not pursue the girl until you've tried, but once the girl has turned you down or shown interest in the other guy, dibs has been fulfilled and obviously that part as gone over Pretty Boy's head."

Her eyes shot open, but didn't get a chance to respond as Dusty dashed around her grabbed Katie's hand to run away.

"Now which way to Carlos?!"

She turned to her right and turned the pair with a jerk of her hand towards a hallway leading to a janitor's closet. "This way?"

Lucy turned in her spot and looked dumbfounded at the retreating pair.

* * *

Katie pulled them to a stop in front of a janitor's closet then explained, "If he's still at the Palm Woods, he's in there."

Dusty rolled his eyes and muttered, "It's always a janitor's closet isn't it?"

The tween raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Just something at Hollywood Arts…" He knocked on the door and called out, "Carlos, open up. It's Katie and Dusty. We need your help."

They were answered with silence.

Katie shrugged a shoulder and suggested, "He might not be in there."

Dusty leaned toward the door and placed his left palm on it. He muttered with a slightly annoyed tone, "Oh, he's in there. I can feel his soul."

"His soul?"

He ignored her and called out, "Come on out Carlos, we're on the clock here, so get on out!"

"I'm not in here!"

He rolled his eyes then shouted back, "You just answered. Now open the door and come out here so you can help us save Jade and Vega's careers from Griffin. We need you to call Griffin and tell him you made your decision about the song, so we can get him to Rocqué Records."

"As much as I love Jade/Heather, I can't face Griffin without the guys and tell him no."

Dusty gritted his teeth then called out, "Fine then, I'll kick the door down and drag your sorry behind out because I don't give one iota of care about you or your career when theirs is on the line."

"You try!"

"Okay!" he flippantly answered. Dusty took a step away from the door and was about lift his foot up, but Katie shouted with raised hands, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to kick the door down; what does it look like I'm doing?"

Katie held her hands up and stated, "Hold it for a second." She turned back to door and continued, "Carlos, you just have to call him and tell him to meet you at Rocqué Records and we're take it from there."

"I just have to make a phone call?"

She smiled as she could hear in his voice that he was coming around to doing what she wanted. "Just a phone call."

Dusty spoke up, "Tell him to send a limo to pick us up."

"A limo?!"

Katie's brow furled and asked the Southern teenager, "A limo?"

He gave her a boyish grin and asked, "Why not ride in style? Besides, I don't have my mustang with me."

Katie grinned in total agreement.

"I'm not going!" Carlos desperately shouted through the door.

Dusty turned his attention back to the closet and shouted, "You're going because you're going to help me stall Griffin until the board of directors can get there so we can carry out our plan."

"No, no, no, no…"

In route to Rocqué Records

Carlos was still babbling no as he, Katie and Dusty were riding in the backseat of the limo Griffin eagerly sent for Carlos. Katie not only was enjoying the ride, but she was quickly typing away on her laptop as she was double checking and confirming some of her ideas for Griffin.

*Black Rectangular G5 PearPhone* Dusty Hale: About to take on the King for #JadeInOurPrayers FEELING: Revolutionary 0:)

* * *

Author's Note: For those of you that may not know, the actress that plays the Lucy Stone was the same actress that played years ago in the iCarly episode iLook Alike as Carly's double, so that is the reference Dusty is making with his question about her appearance. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to update soon.


	7. Chapter 6

Sorry readers that I got behind. I get all this extra time and it still doesn't seem like enough to get everything done. I have about two chapters left after this one, more like one chapter and an epilogue.

Jeremy Shane: I hope you enjoy this new chapter. I did know that the actress that plays Lucy played Anna. Heck, maybe she did survive in this universe? :D

Challenge King: Dusty is facing a bit of self discovery, the same we all do at some point in defining ourselves.

ArtisticAngel6: I found that an interesting coincidence that she played in iCarly. Of course the other coincidence is that the actress that plays Camille played with Victoria Justice in Zoey 101. Also, James did play Shane in the Season 2 premiere of iCarly. I catch the occasional rerun of BTR on TeenNick after Victorious reruns go off and of course over the years during Saturday premiere and I would have to agree that Katie has grown to be my favorite. I'm glad that Ciara is apparently staying with Nick through at least another movie past Swindled.

Rating: T Violence

* * *

Chapter 6

In route to Rocqué Records

About halfway to Rocqué Records, Carlos finally stopped babbling and started enjoying the limo ride by looking out at the passing buildings and people. Katie typed with one hand while grabbing the back of his shirt to pull him down when he wanted to stick his head out of the open sunroof. The hockey player frowned at her and crossed his arm over his chest in a near pout.

Dusty glanced out of the other passenger window and idly asked, "If neither of you mind me asking, how did ah Logan and his ex break up?"

Carlos knotted his brow while Katie looked up from her laptop and gave him a curious expression.

He shrugged a shoulder and answered, "I'm curious because of his love science thing… and I'm still a teenager and I guess I like a little love spectatoring—is spectatoring a word? Probably not, but oh well…"

Katie answered with a soft roll of her eyes, "A while back James kissed Camille during a rehearsal for a part Camille was trying to get. Logan was busy at some conference on the planet Venus, so James was rehearsing the part with her, but there was a kissing scene. Supposedly they were caught up in the moment and kissed a second time and it freaked them out. They told Logan and of course it upset him and he decided that they should just break up because what…" She looked to Carlos and questioned with a confused expression, "Ninety-five percent?"

The helmet wearing teenager nodded in confirmation.

Katie continued, "Ninety-five percent of those types romances fail, so he wanted to go head and go through the heartbreak."

Dusty knotted his brow and slightly frowned then questioned as he was having a little trouble comprehending what he had just heard, "So your friend broke up over a _stage kiss _and the probability of their relationship surviving when compared to similar ones?"

The pair nodded with disbelieving expressions on their faces.

The Southern teenager slightly tilted his head to the side and asked just to make sure he was comprehending the situation, "And he knew he was getting into a relationship with an actress? With eyes wide open?"

They answered again with nods.

Dusty flippantly answered, "Okay, your friend's an idiot. Stage kisses by their definition are _not real_. This ah—what's her name? Camille you said?"

Katie answered, "Yeah, Camille."

"Right, so… Camille seems better off without him if he's going to be that ridiculous."

Carlos spoke up in defense of his friend with an angry expression, "Hey, Logan's my friend—"

"Who broke up with her over a _stage kiss_. I go to Hollywood Arts and understand stage kisses. They teach them to us. Sounds more like a lousy excuse to get out of a relationship he didn't want to be a part of in the first place and now that she's off happy alone, it annoys him. Why he truly wants to get back with her is anyone's guess."

The hockey player defensively snapped, "You don't have a clue what you're talking about."

"You may absolutely be right and I don't, but you can't sit there and tell me that what he did was right or that him playing love games to get _her_ to chase after _him_ because he's too much of a coward to get his girl is right either. That's nothing but a silly power game to manipulate her and I've seen the ongoing fallout from those and they aren't pretty especially if in the meantime she hooks up with a guy that doesn't appreciate Logan pulling such things… and decides he might want to try to use your friend as a puck in a hockey game."

Carlos slightly frowned and was for a lost of words in how to respond to such a conclusion.

Katie let out a soft laugh and countered, "It's more that he has commitment issues and fears rejection."

Dusty raised an eyebrow and nonchalantly answered, "Oh? Well… then he just needs some more growing up to do then… if I truly cared about her, I would have gone down swinging for that five percent."

They younger Knight sibling raised an eyebrow and teased, "Is that what you're going to do with Heather?"

Carlos knotted his brow and made a face. "Heather? You have a girlfriend named Heather?"

Dusty lifted a corner of his mouth and dryly answered, "I have a… 'friend' named Heather…" His voice dropped and wearily finished, "…and I don't even know if I have a five percent chance, but… daddy raised a fighter, not a quitter, so…"

Rocqué Records  
Los Angeles, CA  
Friday, June 8, 2012

The three quickly entered the building after the limo pulled up to drop them off and made their way to the elevators. Dusty tapped several buttons to pick up the first one that would arrive and as they were waiting for one to arrive, he calmly explained, "Okay, one more time, simple plan: Katie distracts Griffin, I get his phone to send a message for them all to meet him here for an emergency board meeting or at least enough to make a difference while Carlos plays hide and seek in the building until the job's done. Any questions?"

Carlos raised a hand and asked in a near panic tone, "What happens if they catch me?"

The Southern teenager spared him a glance and calmly answered, "You tell him yes, you will pick his song and if Gustavo is there, you have them pick a fight over it buying us more time, okay?"

"What if they turn and start yelling at me or get Obdul to make me pick a song."

"Then you grow a blasted spine and tell then they can both go climb a tree." He took another step forward to look Carlos straight in the eyes and whispered, "Listen, we are pulling this off for Jade and Vega and if we don't, my only option is to destroy your band and I already have plenty of incentive with you and 'Pretty Boy' for what you did to Heather."

The helmet wearing teenager's eyes shot open as he shouted, "She's the same Heather? You're with Heather?!"

Dusty gave him a deep frown and answered, "My relationship with her is _none of your business_. Focus on the task at hand: saving _your_ music career from _me_ because that is what it comes down to: Jade, Vega and BTR wins or they win and you _lose_."

Carlos swallowed nervously and nodded his helmet covered head.

The Carolinian snorted out a breath through his nose as he turned his attention to look up at the display above the elevator doors.

The elevator doors opened and the three quickly stepped inside. Katie tapped the button to the appropriate floor then Dusty pressed the button on the floor below the one she selected.

The elevator ride was short and they dropped Carlos off on the floor below. Dusty trailed several feet behind the tween girl as exited the elevator on the correct floor and made her way to the recording studio and Gustavo's office. She didn't have to go that far as she saw Griffin relaxing in one of the cushioned white chairs in the lounge just outside one of the recording studios and Obdul patiently standing beside him.

She turned on her innocent smile and happily greeted the CEO, "Hi Griffin."

Griffin smiled at the sister of the lead singer to his boy band and happily greeted her, "Hello Katie."

She in return casually, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm waiting for Carlos to show up so he can tell me that he's made the right decision in picking 'Love Me, Love Me' as BTR's next single. I even sent a limo for him."

The tween smile and nodded along.

He glanced at his high end watch and continued, "But… he's running late. He should have been here by now."

While still wearing her easygoing smile and suggested, "Maybe they're caught in afternoon traffic? Maybe you should call him—personally—to make sure nothing happened?"

Griffin gave Katie a bright smile and commented, "Great idea Katie." He reached into his pocket to pull out his phone then started dialing the limo driver's number.

Katie rested her hands on the top of the backrest of the couch sitting across from Griffin's seat and leaned forward to suggest, "How about you make the call over here? You'll get a better signal."

"Another great idea," he happily agreed and stood up. He walked around the glass coffee table and around to join her behind the couch as the phone started ringing on the other end.

However, Griffin didn't get to hear the other end pickup as he was bumped from behind and the phone went tumbling out of his hand and onto the floor.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I—I'm so clumsy. I wasn't looking where I was going," Dusty quickly apologized as he tried to regain his balance by resting a hand on the tall gentleman. The teenager bent down and picked up both phones then handed Griffin his PearPhone in place of the CEO's one. He gave a polite nod of his head then started off down the hallway in the same rush as when he bumped into Griffin.

The graying gentleman took the phone and brought it to his ear, but instead of a ring or the limo driver, he heard silence. He knotted his brow while he realized the difference in the feel of the phone in his hand. As his phone was sleek and shiny, the one in his hand had a heavy rubbery protective case around it. He stated in confusion as he took a good look at the phone, "Wait a second; this is a PearPhone… an older one too." He glanced around and saw the teenager that bumped into him was gone. "He must have picked up my phone." He turned to his trusted bodyguard and instructed, "Obdul, get my phone back from that young man."

The bodyguard/assistant nodded then took off down the hallway to retrieve his boss' phone.

He straightened his suit jacket while commenting, "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait. In the meantime, I can check on Gustavo to see how he's coming along with my new album."

"New album?"

He put on a bright smile and rubbed his hands together, "Yes, I've got him hard at work working on a new BTR album."

She faked surprise with a raised eyebrow, "Already? They just got done with their second album."

"Yes, I know, but I need another album to use against some… upcoming competition and I want to be ready for them."

The tween let out a short laugh and questioned, "You want protect your bottom line?"

He excitedly answered, "Exactly."

She gave a knowing smile and continued, "Well I have some ideas on how you could do that… better yet I have a few ideas that could _increase_ your profits for the band and your company overall."

He raised a surprised eyebrow and curiously answered in a tone that suggested that he was genuinely interested in hearing her ideas, "Okay Katie; you're young and since we all know that youth drives the youth driven music business, so I would be a fool not to take at least a few minutes to hear you out especially when I have them to spare." He walked around the couch to retake his seat and happily commented, "I can always bug Gustavo a little later… when Carlos arrives and I can rub it in his face that I was right about which song we should pick."

She walked around the white couch and took a seat. She smiled at him and stated, "Okay, you've always used BTR the brand name to push products, but how about new ways to make more money directly off the music?"

He eagerly asked as he instantly realized he got a larger cut when it involved directly the music, "How so?"

"We could directly license BTR music to the new BattleBlast Video game that's wrapping up development and from my research, you could make a projected one point two million dollars and if we really play hardball after them just coming back from their world tour, you could probably get more out of them."

Griffin's eyes widened at the possibility of making that much money that easily off the music.

Katie raised her right pointer finger and continued, "I have another idea: I was thinking that we could book BTR for birthday parties to make extra cash, but for celebrities' and wealthy, powerful parents' kids that can really dish out the cash. I found out that the Sultan of Sadonia's daughter sweet sixteen birthday party is in late July and that she is a huge BTR fan. I already contacted him and he's willing to pay two million dollars for a private concert. I think I can swing a tank out of the deal for you."

His brow shot up. "A tank? I would love to drive a tank."

The younger Knight sibling nodded along in the belief she had hooked him. "Now those are ways you can protect your income and not have to worry about competing against others." She softly smiled and pointed out, "Worry wastes energy thus, potential profit."

Griffin continued to wear his smug smile. "Perhaps, but… I don't like being told like that then turning around and trying to have people give them the money that should be going into my pocket, but…"

She asked in a hopeful tone thinking that she may have already persuade with his 'but', "But?"

"…you have such good ideas in making me money that I just might have to put you in-charge of Rocqué Records."

The tween's eyes shot open at such a suggestion. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she could finally find her voice, "Ah, thanks… but maybe I should be a little older before you do such a thing."

"Then how could I take advantage of you being a youth?"

She let out a laugh and eagerly nodded her head while answering, "I see your point." She slightly tilted her head to the side and asked while bringing her pointer and thumb close together, "But could you give me a little time to think about it?"

"I'll give you as much time as it takes… for Gustavo to get me a new album."

The tween laughed, "At least that gives me a little time. He can't just turn out an album in a day."

Griffin laughed along for a second before commenting in an equally jesting tone, "We'll see."

Katie slightly frowned as she saw in her eyes that he wasn't kidding, especially when he had tried to pull the same stunt before and it took an electrifying couch to persuade him that such an expectation was completely unrealistic.

The gray haired CEO continued, "Now where is Obdul? And where's my phone? I need Carlos here, _now_."

Katie tilted her head to the side and sweetly suggested, "Why don't we go to the break room and get a juice box? I know that always calms my nerves while we wait."

He shrugged a shoulder. "All your ideas have been good so far and… it's five o'clock somewhere."

* * *

After searching for a good ten minutes for the teenager, Obdul realized it would be a waste of time to randomly search the rest of the building, so he quickly headed for the stairs and for the security room of the building. The building security knew him on sight, so they didn't give him any hassle about letting him inside and looking at the various security cameras inside and outside the building.

While he looked over the several different monitors looking for his quarry, he asked the security guards, "Has a teenager exited the building in the last few minutes? Short dark hair with a denim shirt and blue jeans?"

The pair shook their heads that they hadn't seen him leave.

He frowned at the response, but quickly disregarded it as he spotted the teenager on one of the monitors. "There you are and… there you are Carlos." His jaw slightly dropped as he saw the stray member of Big Time Rush that his boss was so eager to see sneaking about the hallways on one of the lower floors.

Obdul reached over to the end of the desk in front of the monitors and picked up one of charging walkie-talkies then instructed them, "I'm going to get this kid while you keep an eye on him." The bodyguard pointed to Carlos as he finished, "I'll radio you in a few minutes for you to tell me where he's at."

The security guards nodded their heads and he quickly exited the room.

* * *

Dusty started tapping away at the phone to send out a generic text message to the board members as soon as he had made it out of sight of the CEO while muttering, "Got to love Cat and her insistence that I learn mass-texting from her…" Now he was hiding behind one of the many corners of the almost maze like twists on the floor. He didn't have to wait long as the phone started receiving replies of several board members saying that they would be there in the next fifteen to twenty minutes.

The Southern teenager looked up from the telephone from feeling the sixth sense that had developed from during his time at Northridge High School, but now enhanced by several magnitudes in sensitivity, of someone approaching from behind. He took a quick glance around the corner to see Obdul approaching. He quickly turned and dashed down the hall.

Obdul caught sight of quick movement around the corner and assumed he was the teenager he was hunting. He brought the walkie-talkie near his lips and quickly asked, "I'm on the sixth floor; do you see the first kid?"

_"Yes, he's making his way to the stairs."_

The bodyguard quickly jogged to catch up with Dusty just in time to see the door to the stairs swinging close.

Dusty was practically jumping the railings to the next set of stairs in the 180 degree flat turn stairs instead of running around the flat landing. This method saved him enough time that when Obdul flung open the door to step inside the stairs, Dusty was nowhere in sight from glancing upward and down.

Obdul shouted into the walkie-talkie as he looked back and forth, debating which way he should go, "What floor is he on now?"

There was a pause on the other end then the security guard announced, _"He just stepped onto the second floor."  
_

* * *

He immediately started dashing down the stairs to catch up with him.

Dusty stopped to stand in front of a pair of elevators and patiently waited for one to arrive. The doors on the one on his right side opened and he dashed inside just as Obdul was running towards the elevator. The doors closed just in front of him and he slammed a palm against it.

He brought his radio to his mouth and curtly asked, "What floor is head to?"

"_The camera shows the seventh floor."_

"Override and shut it down when it reaches the fifth floor. I'll tell you when to open the doors."

"_Right."  
_

* * *

Dusty looked at the passing numbers for the ascending elevator then the elevator jerked to a stop and the emergency lights lit. An automated voice started speaking, _"We are experiencing a power fail. Please remain calm and someone will assist you momentarily."_

He looked to the half-sphere on the roof of the elevator and smiled. He walked do it and placed his hand over it and blocking their view.

* * *

Obdul reached the floor by the stairs and now stood in front of the elevator. He spoke into the walkie-talkie again and instructed, "Open the elevator doors."

The next moment the doors opened and the internal lights came on, but no one was inside.

The CEO assistant took a moment to comprehend there was no one inside the elevator then shouted, "You said he was in the elevator!"

"_H-he was. He just… he just vanished."_

"What do you mean he vanished? Did he get off on another floor?"

_"No, he just vanished in thin air! He covered the camera with a hand then a few seconds later, it was clear and he was gone."_

The bodyguard growled out then shouted, "Where is he?"

"He's on the sixth floor."

_"We don't know, he just is."_

Obdul shook his head then stepped inside the elevator then tapped the button for the sixth floor.

Another minute or so later the elevator doors opened and Obdul started down the hallway the security guards told him where Dusty was calmly relaxing from leaning against a wall.

The Southern teenager looked up from the phone after reading the last text message then tossed Obdul the phone. He smirked while slightly teasing him, "There, you can have it; I don't need it anymore."

The muscular gentleman deeply frowned at him after catching the phone and snapped, "What did you do?"

"I guess we'll see in a few minutes."

Just as Fate might have it, Carlos ran up to them from a side hallway. Obdul's eyes shot open at the singer inadvertently finding them instead of having to chase after another teenager.

Dusty frowned at Carlos' timing. He turned and closed his eyes for a moment along with pinching the bridge of his nose. He let out a breath then opened his eyes to Carlos and stated, "You're supposed to be hiding."

"I started running when I noticed the security cameras. If I stayed in one place"

He nodded at the logic then motioned to his left and suggested, "Okay, then keep running." The lean teenager turned to look at the assistant then calmly stated, "I'll deal with Mister Obdul while you continue to hide."

Carlos paced a quick glance to tall, muscular man then to Dusty and suddenly realized he was more afraid of his fellow teenager than Griffin's assistant. He dashed past Dusty and Obdul was about to give chase, but the Carolinian took a step in front of Obdul. "Nope, not yet."

Obdul had lost all patience with this teenager that had him go on a merry little chase for the last twenty minutes. "Move."

Dusty smirked and challenged in a pleasant voice, "Make me."

Obdul raised his right fist and cracked the knuckles with his left hand. "Get out of my way boy."

The Hollywood Arts student snorted out a laugh then started chuckling.

The tall gentleman asked with a hint of curiosity, "What's so funny?"

Dusty wiped over his mouth with a hand then purposely answered with a thicker southern accent, "You don't see the irony of a black man telling a Southern guy 'a boy'? That's funny. You got to laugh at that."

Obdul tilted his head slightly to the side and gave him a cold stare. He grabbed a fistful of Dusty's denim and Penny-T collar. "You know what? I think you're going to tell me what you were doing with Griffin's phone then I'll go get Carlos."

The Southern teenager gave him an equally deep frown then reached up with his left hand and grabbed the bodyguard's hand and started to squeeze.

Obdul initially gritted his teeth then screamed in pain as he thought his fingers were about to break.

Dusty stated in a crisp tone, "Let go of my shirts or I will break your fingers. They have great sentimental value to me and I think you have the same attachment to your fingers."

The assistant managed to loosen his grip on the shirts despite the pressure then Dusty shoved his hand away.

The muscular gentleman opened and closed his hand several times then shook it to get feeling back to his slightly numbed fingers. "Okay, the hard way then…"

The handsome man pulled back his right arm (practically texting his next move to the teenager) took an all out right hook swing at Dusty's gut with the intention for it to put him down. However, the Southern teenager remained in place and let the fist collide with his stomach. The impact didn't even nudge the teenager.

A soft sound reverberated in the T-intersection hallway. Obdul took several steps back, clenched his wrist and gritted his teeth as he felt like he had just punched a brick wall.

Dusty slowly tilted his head to the side as he looked at Griffin's bodyguard. He slightly frowned and commented, "You're going to need to do better than that."

"Fine kid." Obdul unbutton his blazer jacket then raised his forearms up. He took a swing at Dusty's face and the Hollywood Arts student let the fist strike him. The impact turned his head to the right and the sound reverberated in the room as if Obdul had just punched a brick wall.

The CEO assistant growled out from the pain then looked on to Dusty in shock.

The teenager slowly turned his head back to meet Obdul's eyes while wiggling his jaw. "Okay, that's two freebie shots I've given you… you may want to stop before you hurt yourself."

Obdul rushed him then threw a combination of three jabs to Dusty's midsection then took a step backwards, clenching and unclenching his fists.

The teenager stood there unfazed and slightly tilted his head to the side to give him another odd expression.

Obdul looked on in bewilderment at seeing the teenager standing there without a care that would have put larger men down or at least driven them backwards.

"Six freebies… nah, you don't get that many…" Dusty closed the distance between them and threw out his right fist to Obdul's midsection in a blink of an eye.

The bodyguard sharply bent at his midsection and dropped to one knee. He desperately tried sucking in a breath as he resisted the urge to throw up. He couldn't ever remember a time he had been hit that hard, even during training in the service.

Dusty sharply instructed him, "Stay down before you get hurt."

Obdul growled then quickly stood up in the hopes of catching the teenager off guard and threw a few jabs at Dusty's face, but this time the teenager swatted the swings just as fast as the suit wearing man could throw them. Dusty countered with a sharp kick to the stomach and sent Obdul tumbling backwards.

Dusty slowly walked to the muscular man as he pulled himself to his feet.

Obdul threw out a low kick to Dusty's left knee, intending to drop him, but barely nudged him and hurting his own shin in the process. He shifted his weight to his left leg just in time for the Carolinian to strike his jaw and cheek with a right jab.

His head snapped to the side and he went face first into the carpeted floor. He got his hands underneath him and pushed himself to his knees as he tasted the copper taste of his own blood in his mouth from his teeth slicing into his cheek.

He crawled a few feet away from Dusty to an open area where several hallways intersected then pulled himself on his feet.

Dusty stated with a hint of finality in his voice, "Stop before I really hurt you."

Obdul would have none of that in his pride would not let him capitulate to a teenager. He reached inside his jacket just under his left armpit then stopped as he grasped the grip of his sidearm.

He motioned with his other hand towards the floor and stated with an impatient voice with a hint of fear, "Enough, get on the ground. I'll let the LAPD deal with you."

Dusty dropped his right arm down and appearing out of thin air, a foot long tapered silver blade slid down parallel to his inner fore and caught the grip before it reached the floor. He held up the short-sword/large knife and whispered, "I'm less than twenty one feet from you… do you really want to bring a gun to a knife fight?"

Apparently the bodyguard did want to do such a thing as Obdul drew his Glock and trained it on the teenager, but Dusty shifted his weight to his left as he quickly closed with the bodyguard just as he was straightening out his arm, dodging the line of sight of the firearm to pass just above his right shoulder and drove the blade upward into Obdul's right shoulder.

The bodyguard screamed in pain as the silver blade pierced him completely through the bone of his shoulder blade and Dusty drove forward, picking him off of his feet with just one arm until he reached a wall. He stuck the part of the blade sticking out the other side of Obdul's shoulder into the wall, pinning him to the wall.

Dusty let go of the grip and stepped back to look Obdul straight in the eyes and coldly whispered, "Stay… and I just might put you back together again."

Obdul gritted his teeth from his shoulder burning in pain. He tried to pull on the leather wrapped grip and the blade out of the wall and his shoulder, but it was pointless as Dusty had completely pinned him.

He picked up the Glock that had fallen out of Obdul's hand as the blade had severed some nerves in the bodyguard's shoulder to grip the weapon. He pulled the magazine out of the grip and tossing it over his shoulder. He pulled the slide back to eject the round in the chamber then took the slide off the weapon and pocketed it in his left breast pocket. He tossed the rest of the gun off to the opposite direction of the magazine.

The lean teenager motioned to the man's belt and stated, "Oh? I need to borrow your belt."

* * *

Author's Note: I hope that this chapter was entertaining. One more chapter and an epilogue. Hopefully it will be out by the end of the week. Thanks for reading.


	8. Chapter 7

Hello readers. I have a double update in wrapping up this story. It's been an interesting diversion in writing. I hope you enjoyed something a little different than I usually write.

Jeremy Shane: Thanks.

Challenge King: Thanks. It's not often you have to hear that the 'love of your life' is apparently moving on quite fine without you. The fight was completely one sided for a number of reasons. I hope you like the ending of the story.

Rating: T Language

* * *

Chapter 7

Gustavo blew out a tired breath as he was becoming frustrated on one of his songs and started randomly banging on keys on the piano in front of him. He was interrupted before he could damage the keys by Griffin calling out from behind the songwriter, "So Gustavo, how's my album coming along?"

The glasses wearing musician turned in his seat to see Griffin and Katie lazily sipping on straws from their yellow juice boxes.

He spat out in mild frustration, "Slowly. It takes time to write a full album and I've been working on it for a few hours at best."

"Well keep at it. You know how important that record is to me."

The former record owner rolled his eyes and muttered, "Yeah, yeah, I know, but why are you here anyway? Just to bother me?"

"I was waiting for Carlos as he decided to pick my single, but he's running late."

Gustavo frowned and despite Griffin's confidence that Carlos would pick his single, the songwriter would not give up so easily. He'd convince the hockey player on whose side he should pick as soon as he arrived, if he was showing up. The songwriter had a healthy skepticism that Carlos was on his way and that this could just be a mind game that his boss was pulling to get a psychological edge on him.

A soft whistle sounded from behind the CEO and the tween. Katie glanced over her right shoulder and saw Dusty smiling and motioned for the tween to leave the studio. Apparently she was the only one of the three that noticed it as the rivals started arguing again.

She quickly looked back to the gentlemen and made an excuse to the pair, "I'll be right back. I have to use the restroom." She turned and exited before either could say a word—if they wanted to as they continued to argue. As she exited and took a place next to the teenager, about a dozen well dressed men and women approached the pair.

Dusty displayed a charming smile, motioned inside and stated to them, "Mister Griffin is in there. I assume that is who you are looking for."

A lovely brunette in an impeccable ladies business suit and in her mid-thirties smiled flirtatious in return then led the rest into the recording studio. She quickly called out while holding up her phone, "We got your text for an emergency meeting here; what's going on?"

Griffin gave them a confused expression as to why the majority of the board to his company was ambushing him at the recording studio. He took a few seconds to gather his wits then responded, "Emergency meeting? I didn't call for any meeting—he used my phone to get you here!"

She quickly questioned, "What?"

"Some kid picked up my phone about…" He glanced at his watch then finished, "…about twenty minutes ago and Obdul was retrieving it for me."

A high pitched feedback noise from the speakers caught everyone's attention. They turned to look through the glass at the teenager and tween in the control booth.

Dusty leaned down towards the microphone and politely started, _"I certainly did and I'm sorry for luring you here and turning you all into a captive audience, but this is very important."_

Griffin questioned, "Captive audience?"

One of the board members turned to the now closed glass doors that they entered and softly pushed against them. They barely budged then he pushed harder, but they wouldn't open then he noticed that the vertical bar door handles were tied with what looked like a high quality dress belt.

Gustavo eyes shot open at seeing that they were apparently trapped in the studio then shouted, "Who are you?"

Dusty smirked then spoke into the microphone and motioned to the business dressed individuals. _"Just a wayward son who'll find some peace when I am done… which will be after you listen to this very intelligent girl explain how Griffin is going to cost you a whole lot of money to settle his petty, personal vendetta then tell you how you increase your company's profit."_

Katie smiled to them on the other side of the glass then spoke into the microphone with Dusty stepped away, _"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to inform you that Griffin intends to use Big Time Rush to destroy the rising star that is on everyone's lips at the moment: Jade West and of course Tori Vega. You know, the girls that performed in front of around two hundred million people at the Platinum Music Awards and still on everyone's minds from Jade's miraculous recovery from an accident that should have been fatal."_

One board member looked to Griffin and shouted, "You want to do what?"

Griffin held up a hand to try to respond, but Dusty interrupted, _"He's mad because they turned him down and wants destroy them out of spite. That's going to be a fantastic headline all over the internet about him wanting to do such a thing to the girls America and the rest of the world are falling in love with. What will your bottom line look like a year from now? He's having that guy there writing an album as we speak to release at the same time they release their music."_

Griffin shouted at Dusty, "I have to!" He looked to his board members and quickly explained, "They will cost me money if they succeed! I can have another album ready for release when they're ready and with an affective ad campaign, I can knock out the competition that would cut into our sales for years if they become popular."

The board members looked on in surprise at their CEO confirming such news.

The brunette board member shouted in response, "And we will be vilified for trying sabotage their careers. Even I know about Jade West and what happened to her. We'd be accused of doing what the car battery couldn't. People might boycott all our subsidiaries out of spite and not just your record label if they find out the truth!"

Dusty called out, _"Which I intend to tell the world… and the hockey players might do on their own."_

Katie slightly shoved him to the side to comment, _"They all suddenly came down with throat problems… what does that tell you?"_

A second member shouted, "We backed you on bringing back the boy band and now you want to use your pet record company to destroy the rest of our company?"

A third heavyset member shouted, "My kids love those girls! They can't wait for their albums to come out and I'll never hear the end of it if we do that! My wife will make me sleep on the couch!"

The lovely board member turned to Gustavo and pointed her finger at her while shouting, "You stop writing songs right now or I'll bring a motion to the board to fold up this little record company, sell off the assets and throw your fat butt out on the street."

The glasses wearing musician had his second shock in the same number of minutes from her threat.

Griffin shouted in outrage, "Amanda!"

She held up a hand to cut him off, "No Griffin. You will not use this company over a personal vendetta and cost us money. We have obligations to our shareholders."

Dusty spoke up, _"Excuse me ma'am, but if you want to know how to make some money, you need to listen to Katie. She has some great ideas."_

"_I know how you could increase profits across the board."_

Amanda raised an eyebrow, intrigued that such a young girl had the confidence to think she could give them tips. "How?"

"_Make sure Griffin can't use BTR to try to destroy Jade West."_

The brunette glanced to the other board members and stated, "Since we have a quorum, I move for this board to ban Rocqué Records from directly competing against Jade West and Tori Vega for their first album. Do I hear a second?"

The one with kids that were fans of the girls raised his hand.

"I object!" Griffin shouted.

Amanda ignored him as she continued, "All in favor, say 'aye'."

The other ten members shouted as one, "Aye."

"Motion has passed." She looked to Gustavo and stated in no uncertain terms, "Defy us and we will sue you."

Gustavo quickly nodded and capitulated as of course he was more than happy in not having to write an album at the moment.

Dusty laughed, _"My work's done." _He softly smiled and looked to Katie. "See little one…" He turned to look at Griffin on the other side of the glass and crisply finished through the microphone, _"…even kings bow."_

Griffin clenched his jaw tightly as he gave the teenager a cold stare with his blue eyes.

Dusty turned away from the microphone and headed out of the booth. Katie gave the group an awkward smile and quickly followed him out. The Southern teenager walked around to the glass doors to the studio and untied Obdul's belt then opened the door.

Griffin frowned and harshly questioned as the teenager entered the studio, "Who are you?"

Dusty looked Griffin straight in the eyes and stated, "I told you: I'm a wayward son. Now I would like to have my phone back."

"Where's mine?"

The teenager shrugged his shoulder, "I gave it to the black guy—Obdul after I sent them the message. Now hand it over… before I have to take it from you." He held out his open left hand.

"Where's Obdul?"

"He's hanging on the wall after he was stupid enough to pull his sidearm on me…" Dusty's eyes shot open and glanced away while muttering to himself, "Crap, I got to get my blade."

The white haired CEO snorted out dismissively, "You couldn't have hurt Obdul."

The Hollywood Arts student snapped his head to meet his eyes and retorted, "I just made you bow; you think one little bodyguard is a problem for me?" He motioned with his opened and stated, "_Phone._"

Griffin relented and reached into his pocket to pull out the PearPhone.

Dusty quickly snatched the phone then turned and started down the hallway to head back to Obdul while slipping it into his pocket.

Griffin was not through with who he saw was an insolent boy that had just derailed his plans. He quickly followed him with Katie on his tail.

Gustavo slightly shook his head and asked Amanda, "Who was that?"

* * *

Dusty stopped at seeing round the corner Obdul hanging against the wall with a blade. Carlos and several people were surrounding him trying to support him, but were afraid of taking the blade out of him. Kelly was desperately on the phone trying to get an ambulance.

Griffin's jaw dropped and Katie looked on in shock.

Dusty walked between the pair holding up the bodyguard on either side then reached up and grabbed the grip with his left hand and pulled the blade out of the bodyguard's shoulder. Obdul slid down the wall and collapsed to his bottom as the pair weren't expecting for such an action. He gritted his teeth and placed a hand against his shoulder while looking up at the teenager. The others looked on slightly stunned from the action.

Kelly shouted out, "Are you crazy?! Do you know how much you could have hurt him doing that?"

She took a step back as did the others in fear as he was now holding the foot long bloody blade and glaring at her. He held the glare on her for a moment then looked to Obdul and raised his right hand and brought his pointer and middle finger together. He placed it on his forehead and a high-pitch, but soft whine emanate from the spot he was touching him. The whining stopped a moment later then the teenager took a step backwards.

Obdul patted his shoulder and found that it was absolutely fine. He took an extra second or two to realize that his right hand was alright as well as well as the blood out of his mouth was gone. He stood up and looked on in shock to the lean teenager.

Dusty hissed out, "It's called a miracle, just accept it." He held up the bloodied blade that was just moments ago in Obdul's shoulder and whispered in a harsh tone, "If you ever pull weapon on me again or anyone I care about… I will put this in your heart. Do you understand?"

Obdul clenched his jaw tightly and nodded his head.

The teenager reached into his breast pocket and tossed the Glock's slide at the bodyguard's feet. He stated with a mild disgust, "You can have that back now."

He turned and looked to Griffin right in the eyes. "Jade and Vega may not have a guardian angel… but I'm close enough and they are under the protection of my wings, so if you ever think about screwing with my friends again… or you dare try to retaliate against this little one—I can already see the gears in your head turning about coming up with something—I won't be as merciful a second time…" He motioned his head back toward Obdul and finished, "…and he won't be able to stop me."

The lights in the hallway dimmed then brightened, catching everyone's attention then several started popping and shattering, especially the decorative lights.

Griffin swallowed in fear as the others took several steps backwards, not knowing how to comprehend the various light blowouts.

Carlos pointed at Dusty and fearfully shouted, "You made the toys come to life!"

Dusty cocked his head to the side and gave Carlos an incredulous expression. "Maybe." He turned to look at the CEO and asked in a crisp tone, "Do we have an understanding?"

Griffin nervously swallowed. "We have an understanding."

Dusty chuckled, "Good…" He twirled the blade one eighty and to direct the point to the ground then slipped it across his inner forearm and it disappeared like a magic trick… which was a neat one for them to all see as his denim sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

He dropped his arms to his sides and continued with a pleasant tone, "We're going to use that limo as a ride back to the Palm Woods." He turned his back to them and headed back to the elevators and called out over his shoulders, "Come on Katie, let's get some ice cream or something… I haven't eaten in like a week."

Everyone looked at his retreating form with dumbfounded expressions, before Katie quickly trotted to catch up with him.

Palm Woods Hotel

Carlos, Katie and Dusty casually walked into the lobby as the hockey player was eating a corn dog and the other two were finishing ice cream cones.

James ran up to the trio due to him, Kendall and Lucy (having ditched her dibs signs) staking out the lobby waiting for them to return and shouted, "How do you know Heather Fox?! She follows you on TwitFlash! She only follows a few people and most of them are family!"

Dusty finished chewing is cone then slightly frowned and tilted his head to the side. He swallowed then answered with a cool tone, "None of your business."

Carlos spoke up while chewing a morsel of his corndog and pointing at Dusty, "Heather's his girlfriend."

James' eyes shot open and shouted with slight outrage, "She's your girlfriend?!"

Kendall spoke up just as in as much shock, "She's your girlfriend?"

Dusty frowned at the boys and dryly answered, "Whatever my relationship with Heather is… is still _none of your business_ and you better not get online and spread rumors about her… I'll know who to hunt down."

Carlos motioned with his corndog to the lean teenager. "You do not want to get him upset. He put Obdul down! He put a sword through his shoulder, healed him and made the lights go out at the studio and made the toys come to life." He finished with a hiss, "He's not human."

The three looked to the helmet wearing teenager as if he was insane.

Katie spoke up with a confident smirk, "I think he's an angel."

Dusty shrugged his shoulder and clarified, "Actually, my mother's the angel and… Obdul shouldn't have pulled his Glock on me now should he?"

The fellow band members glanced to each other, not sure what to make of the news.

"Now he'll think twice on doing such a thing and Griffin understands that there are people that push back."

James knotted his brow. "Push back?

The older Knight sibling was quicker in realizing what he was saying and asked, "You mean we don't have to rush to make another album?"

Katie happily laughed, "Yeah, we got the board there and told them what Griffin was planning to do. They voted to ban Gustavo from directly competing with them on their first album."

James and Kendall simultaneously let out relieved breaths and Lucy looked just as relieved by the news. However, that relief quickly passed with Kendall asking his sister with a fearful voice, "Isn't Griffin going to be mad at you?"

Dusty volunteered to answer, "I gave him fair warning to leave her alone and if he goes back on his word with me… it's not going to be pretty. Besides, you're her brother—it's your responsibility to make sure he can't do anything to her in the meantime. You're a hockey player; you should be able to hurt somebody. That's half the fun of hockey, right?"

Three-fourths of the band shared a few looks then nodded in agreement that was a fun reason for playing.

Logan and Camille approached the group from the pool exit of the lobby with his arm around her shoulders and she wrapping an arm around his back.

The 'smart' one of the group awkwardly greeted the group, "Hi."

Dusty put on a charming smile and questioned, "And who is this lovely, lovely creature?"

Camille smirked in return and answered, "Hello, I'm Camille."

He politely bowed his head to the side and answered, "Hello, ma'am."

She knotted her cute brow and questioned, "Ma'am?"

Lucy offered with a motion of her hand to him, "Apparently it's his thing."

The fellow brunette nodded and continued, "So you're the one that gave my man a good kick to chase me?"

"I did?"

Logan hated to admit, but continued, "Yeah. I thought about what you said about your friend and… you can't play games with love." He gave him a thankful smile. "Thanks."

Dusty cracked a smile. "Glad I could help, but…"

The brainiac of the group gave him a concerned expression and asked, "What?"

The Southern motioned his head towards Camille and teasingly commented, "She's going to be an actress, so get use to her kissing other guys for roles. Remember: it's just a stage kiss."

Camille arced an eyebrow and questioned with laced disbelief in her voice, "You understand stage kissing?"

"I go to a performing arts high school; it's a topic that is covered."

"What school?"

"Hollywood Arts."

Camille's eyes nearly popped out of her sockets while she shouted, "You go to Hollywood Arts?"

James answered with a dry tone, "Yes, yes he does."

The curly haired brunette was nearly beside herself as she continued, "But that's an elite school. How did you get in?"

Lucy answered, "Probably for his music. You should see him play… I love how you did that whole wing thing with the special effects."

Dusty turned to give her a curious expression which Lucy quickly answered, "The guys showed me your video of you rocking out at your school—"

He interrupted with an almost embarrassing tone, "Yeah, they decided to record the Full Moon Jam and put it up on the school's channel on SplashFace."

She reached into her leather jacket pocket and handed him a small piece of paper. "I thought you were fantastic. You ever want to jam some time or want a spot on my album, give me a call."

James put on another shocked expression at the turn of events: this complete unknown getting into the good graces of two girls he liked and that wasn't counting Jade.

Dusty looked down at the number and actually started to blush a little. He cleared his throat then answered, "I don't really plan to go into the music business, but if circumstances call for it… I might be available to play sometime. I got some time in the summer."

Lucy gave him a teasing smile from his acceptance of at least that possibility.

James clenched his jaw and gave him a death glare. Dusty raised and eyebrow and gave a soft smirk in return as he stuffed the piece of paper in his jean pocket.

The inspiring actress asked, "So you're not a musician?"

"I'm more of the behind the scenes kind of guy, but you take classes to do a little bit of everything, so I can do some acting and music. I got in there for a being a little good at everything. I took the summer between my sophomore and junior year to study to get in there."

Camille curiously asked with excitement dripping off her voice, "Is it as good as people say it is?"

"It depends on the teachers you get because I do question the quality of some of them and then there are plenty that will play favorites and hamper others from advancing to take care of their favorites."

She loudly sighed and commented, "Just like the rest of the entertainment industry."

"Well the point of it is to train you to be in the entertainment industry, so… it's accurate. I'd tell you more, but…" He glanced to Katie and trailed off with his statement.

The younger Knight sibling curiously looked in return. "What?"

Camille spoke up, "I get what you mean."

He offered, "If you want more stories about the place, look up my Slap page and tweet me."

She slightly smirked that suggested she would take him up on the offer with only a mild concerned expression on Logan's face.

Dusty motioned to James while asking Lucy, "So did you take care of this 'dibs' thing?"

The red streaked teenager nodded and happily answered, "Yeah, we cleared it up. I un-dibbed Kendall and James I guessed un-dibbed me when he accepted no for an answer."

James shouted in outrage, "You told her to knee me in the groan!"

He shrugged a shoulder and answered, "If you couldn't accept no for an answer the first time or the ones after it, then what else is she supposed to do?"

The handsome band member crosses his arms over his shoulders and looked away embarrassingly.

Dusty smiled to the group and nonchalantly commented, "It's time for me to head on out because my work is done and I don't want to overstay my self-imposed welcome. It's been interesting." He turned and smiled to Katie and commented with an affectionate voice, "You take care of yourself kid."

She snorted out a smile, "I will. You take care of yourself too."

He looked at her for a few more seconds then turned and rested his hands on her shoulders and stated with a solemn tone, "It's a very dark world out there with plenty of monsters, but… hold on to your innocence as long as you can."

There was something about his blue eyes that told her that what he was saying was deeply profound, but she couldn't quite grasp the entire meaning. She settled for giving him another smile and answered, "I'll try."

Dusty dropped his hands and looked to Kendall to state with a curt tone, "And you make sure you step on anyone that tries to take that from her. You're her big brother; it's your responsibility and she looks up to you."

Kendall muttered out, "Right… being a big brother is a big job."

The tween interrupted before the moment became too serious and teasingly asked, "So, are you going back to school?"

The Southern teenager snorted out a breath. "It's a Friday and school is out in about an hour for me, so no, but I thought…"

Katie teased, "What? See Heather?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah, I thought I just might… still have a chance her."

Carlos eagerly asked, "So you're _not_ dating Heather Fox?"

Dusty started walking backwards as he answered in a slight chuckle, "Still none of your business. I'll see you around Big Time Rush…"

Katie raised a hand and questioned, "Wait? How are you going to go see her without any wheels?"

He gave the tween a bright smile and answered, "With my wings of course silly…"

The next moment waved and stepped back so a few people could walk in front of him from the busy lobby. After the few people passed he was out of sight with only the sound of fluttering wings.

Everyone looked on in awe and confusion at his apparent disappearance.

Camille snorted out dismissively, "Oh big deal, I could do that with a few special effects tricks. I've done it in front of James one time when I was auditioning for a witch role."

* * *

Author's Note: Okay, just the epilogue as the next chapter, so go ahead and click the next chapter button.

Guest Star Danielle Busutti as Amanda


	9. Epilogue

Rating: K+

* * *

Epilogue

Melanie Mills' Residence  
Hollywood, CA

"It's almost as if you're a ghost," Melanie Mills, the Emmy Award winning makeup artist, laughed as she touched up Heather's lips as the model sat in front of a dressing room mirror in one of the makeup artist's rooms in her home.

Heather Fox wore a dark, short curly wig, a silky off-white v-neckline (that showed a considerable amount of cleavage) dress that reached to her mid-thigh and a large costume jewelry diamond necklace around her neck, just above her visible cleavage with matching earrings. In addition to her outfit, Mel had made her up to increase the darkness of her skin from zero to about a five in her opinion to match up the actress Heather was mimicking. Heather had joked during the process that Mel had to start from a negative one, which got a good laugh from all those involved. Now that her makeup and wardrobe was finished, she for all practical purposes looked like a young Elizabeth Taylor for the photo shoot as part of a relaunch advertisement campaign for the late actress' White Diamonds fragrance.

Heather politely smiled, but she didn't put any feeling into the smile and her eyes were a dead give away as she more or less stared at her reflection, but not really looking at it.

Mel finished her touch up on the model's lips then the makeup artist gave her a sympathetic smile. "Whatever it is sweetie, I'm sure it's going to be okay."

Heather raised one of her well articulated eyebrows that Mel had did a fantastic job of mimicking Liz Taylor's appearance and questioned somewhat taken aback, "What?"

"I can see something is bothering you. You are probably the happiest model/actor/actress I have ever worked with and genuinely happy to do your job, so it's pretty easy to see when your heart isn't in it."

The dark haired teenager took a sharp breath and her beautiful eyes opened up. "No, I'm fine. I'm thrill to do this shoot with you. I just kind of zoned out for a minute. I'll be fine."

Mel didn't look convinced, but she wasn't going to pry, so she gave her a reassuring smile and stated, "Why don't I give you a few minutes to gather myself?

The model cracked a genuine smile and answered with a thankful tone, "Thanks, I wouldn't want to mess up your shoot."

She softly patted Heather on the hand and replied, "You couldn't do that. I'm not worried about that. Take your time; we'll be ready downstairs when you're ready."

Heather more mouthed than actually spoke, "Thank you."

The blonde gave her another smile then turned to leave the room to give her some privacy.

Mel closed the door and Heather looked back to the mirror to look at her reflection and double check the necklace as she allowed her sullen feelings shine through for a moment with a sigh and sorrowful expression. However as she continued to look at her reflection, she put on a soft smile at realizing how good a job Mel had done to make her look just like Liz Taylor and how pretty she felt which in turn somewhat lifted her spirits as they had been pretty sullen over the last week. She believed there was some truth to the concept that deep down everyone wanted to feel pretty once in a while, but in her case she was making a living off of it. She just hoped it was enough to hide her down feelings and not show through to the shoot.

She heard a soft flutter behind her and knotted her brow at hearing the sound. She felt the momentary confusion of how there could be a fluttering of wind inside the room. A brief thought occurred to her that somehow the window had been opened and a bird had landed on the windowsill. She slightly turned in her seat and looked over her right shoulder, but was startled for a moment at seeing the familiar Southern teenager.

He stood slightly turned to her with his left shoulder towards her and looking down at the floor with an apprehensive expression on his face. He cleared his throat and softly uttered while maintaining his gaze to the floor, "You're very beautiful… there's nothing wrong with you, it's what Carlos, James… and I lack, nothing on your part."

She slightly bowed her head and a soft blush started to form under the heavy makeup as that wasn't what she expected to say after just appearing in the room. The thought briefly passed her mind about how he could know about Carlos and James as she hadn't mentioned either of them to him. She cleared her throat and looked back up to him then quickly asked the obvious question as it gave her time to think, "How did you get in here?"

He continued to look at the floor as he shrugged a shoulder and answered, "I ah… winged over. I remembered that you said you were going to do this shoot at the end of this week and it wasn't that hard to find the house then feel exactly where you were."

She knotted her beautiful brow as she didn't fully comprehend or wanted to comprehend what he meant by the statement. She cautiously asked, "'Winged over'? You 'felt me'?"

He glanced up at the ceiling, still refusing to meet her eyes and answered in a weary voice, "It's complicated."

"Complicated?" She slightly shook her head and pushed away in her mind the completely inadequate answer and asked with an increasingly angered voice with each passing question, "Where have you been? Why haven't you answered me? I've called and left messages and texts and you wouldn't answer me."

He shrugged his shoulder and timidly confessed, "Everywhere for the first few days… any place I would think of, I would suddenly appear until I figured out how _not_ to do that and it's a big universe Heather and I didn't answer because… everything got complicated real quickly."

She took a sharp breath at realizing he was in the process of telling her what Jade and Freddie had told her when she had arrived to see Jade just after her miraculous recovery. Even after a week she couldn't believe their explanation; it was too big a leap for her to consciously make even if a piece of her wasn't surprised… She believed in miracles and didn't doubt one had happened for Jade, but the rest of their explanation as to how was just too much. She asked with a slightly fearful voice, "Again complicated? How did things suddenly become complicated between us?"

"Not us, me."

She asked with a guarded tone even as her face showed her hurt, "You? Things got complicated _for you_? How could things suddenly get complicated with you? So complicated that you couldn't return my messages? Does it have to do with what happened with Jade?"

He took a deep breath then let out a sardonic laugh, "How do I answer that without sounding as if I'm crazy or insulting to you?"

She softly placed her hands on her bare knees and glanced to the floor as she had picked up the hurt and a little bit of fear in his voice. She took a breath and answered, "The same way you've answered me when I've asked something: the blunt truth without being polished or massaging of it." She snorted out a soft laugh, "I've always find it refreshing compared to how everyone else talks and… charming."

He let out a soft laugh as he commented, "A beautiful supermodel thinks I'm charming… the sweet girl from Jersey thinks a country boy can be charming…"

She smiled in return and stood up from her seat. She gracefully glided over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Please talk to me Dusty… could you look at me while we're talking?"

"I can't," he whispered in a desperate tone.

"Why?"

He continued to look away from her and at the floor as he answered, "Because if I do, I may look directly into your soul and then I will know everything about you… even the parts you never want to share then we will _never_ be equals in a relationship, because there's no way I could ever share that much with you… I'm still trying to turn it off and I'm only partially successful at it at the moment. That's the reason why I took off: I'm feeling everyone around me and I can deal with doing that with complete strangers than accidentally invading the people I care about's privacy. I didn't return any of your messages as I couldn't explain what was going on in a text or tweet and if I spoke to you over the phone… it's such a violation of your privacy…"

He blew out a tired breath then continued in a weary voice, "Even looking at the floor, I feel all your giddiness in getting to dress up as Liz Taylor and have this shoot, but at the same time sadness and anger and hurt in thinking that I disregarded you like Carlos and James did. You have this tight little knot inside you that gnaws at you in thinking that there's something wrong with you for how we acted when you're this sweet and kind girl that any guy would be fortunate to have. I just came from meeting them and I found out how you gave Carlos your phone number to give to James, but 'Pretty Boy' threw your note away because Carlos liked you—a piece of him still does—and he wasn't going to pursue a relationship with a girl his friend like… but I chewed them out for not having the decency of calling you and explaining."

She took a sharp breath and dropped her hand off of his shoulder as he had just described exactly how she felt at the moment and how he knew about what she had done months ago when she met back up with her camp buddies. She swallowed down her apprehension then asked in barely audible whisper, "How do you know that?"

He took a deep breath then answered, "My mother is an Angel of the Lord and I have some of her Grace that God gave her when He created her, so… I embraced it all to be able to heal Jade because my mother ignored my prayer. There were… unexpected consequences for me doing such a thing and one of those things was that I've been seeing for the last week how angels see people and trying to deal with that and turn it off… I feel you and what everyone else in this house is feeling on the surface. I've been able to look a few people in the eyes without reading them, but I accidentally looked inside two people today, so I can't dare do that with you."

Heather took a breath then answered in a timid voice, "Jade and Freddie told me… except for the last part."

He knotted his brow and she could partially see his frown from the angle of his turned head.

She continued, "They weren't sure how close we were, but they didn't want me to worry. They thought I should at least know."

Dusty asked in a guarded tone, "What did you tell them—about what you thought they said?"

She looked down at the floor and answered with a slightly shameful voice, "It was blasphemous what they were saying… angels don't have children. I wasn't sure if they were mocking me. It sounds ridiculous and crazy, but… Jade has her miracle."

"Jade and Freddie are good people—I should know, I did look directly into their souls—and they wouldn't mock you and I am aware among certain circles that I am an abomination and that I should be destroyed on sight."

She furled her brow as she couldn't believe that he could be considered such a thing; the kind, sweet guy that over the last month (minus the last week they had been out of contact) had treated her as a person instead of a potential knot in a belt to bag a supermodel.

She reached over to cup his hidden cheek and directed his face to look at her. She began with a sharp tone, "You are not an abomina…" She trailed off as she looked directly into his eyes then took a sharp breath at seeing blue eyes instead of his warm soft brown ones that she had grown accustom. She could see from being that close to him that they weren't contact lenses.

He instantly took a step back from her and covered his eyes with his hands. "No, no, no, no… I shouldn't have come here. I wasn't ready."

The pair remained silent for a few minutes while he continued to cover his eyes.

He caught her off guard by hissing out, "I didn't come here to break your heart and hurt you and I can feel it breaking right now. I got to go—"

She covered her heart with a hand as he described exactly how she was feeling at seeing him so upset. She reached out and grabbed his wrist around his face and begged, "Please don't go."

He took several calming breaths and remained in place.

Once she thought he wouldn't bolt, she quietly asked, "Why did you come here? If you can go anywhere you want, why did you find me? Just to tell me why you wouldn't return my calls and go?"

He dropped his hands away from his face, but refused to open his eyes as he answered, "No, I'm here because I _deeply_ care about you and after meeting Carlos and James, I realized that despite the risk in seeing you, I didn't want to be another guy that hurt you and make you think there was something wrong with you and… I don't want to give up what we're moving towards even after I have a snowball's chance left."

She swallowed down her apprehension then softly asked, "And what's that?"

He slightly bowed his head and if he had his eyes open, would have been staring directly into her visible cleavage. If she needed him to say it out loud the obvious then he would, "We would 'officially' be together as a couple. Isn't that what we were moving towards? I didn't think I misread that over the last three weeks."

Her voice broke as she asked, "You want to be the supermodel spokeswoman Heather Fox's boyfriend?"

He took a step forward and rested his hands on her silk covered hips then opened his eyes to meet her eyes. She rested her hands on his bare forearms under his denim rolled up sleeves as he took several calming breaths as two different shades of blue eyes met. She took a sharp breath as she felt for a moment that he was looking directly in her soul. He stated in a broken, but tender voice as he willed himself not to look past her eyes, "No… I want to be the sweet, oversized Halloween pumpkin buying, oddest food cravings at the weirdest hours, dog picture taking, Jersey girl Heather Fox's boyfriend… if she'll have this wayward son, but… Does she want to be the girlfriend of a partially celestial being who's kind of broken at the moment?"

She lifted her hands off his forearms and cupped his cheeks to pull him into a soft kiss. He opened his eyes wider for finally being caught off with someone's actions over the last week then closed his eyes and slightly tilted his head to return the soft kiss, letting her set the pace which was a pretty leisurely one. She finally pulled her lips away from his lips and asked in a tender voice while looking at his closed eyes, "I'll take you as you are… even if you're a little broken for a little while… stay with me—at least a little while as you finish… getting comfortable in your skin?"

He opened his eyes to meet her eyes again to exchange looks as she tenderly whispered, "Your safe here… I'm not afraid of what you might see."

He took several more calming breaths while looking into her eyes. His eyes faded from their grayish/blue color and back to their natural brown color.

She snorted out a laugh and he answered in a relieved voice, "I'd like that, but… I can't stay too long. I heard a prayer from Jade a few days ago and… she reminded me of graduation and exams are next week… and told me not to give you up."

She wanted to comment on his remark that he could hear a prayer, but let it be for the moment and gave him a bright smile and rested her hands on his shoulders, "Then I guess we have the weekend together and I need to thank Jade… and owe her an apology for not returning her calls this week."

He nodded his head in understanding.

She pulled away from him and gently took his hand and happily commented, "Come on, I have a shoot and I want you to watch and meet everyone."

He knotted his brow and asked in confusion, "You want me to watch one of your shoots?"

She let out a soft laugh as she started pulling him along out of the room, "Perks of being with a supermodel."

* * *

Author's Note: And this story is done. I hope you enjoyed this short little excursion into something different in my writing.

Heather Fox's photo shoot is of course inspired by Elizabeth's same photo shoot with Melanie Mills. I'm not sure if you can see the video of the behind the scenes to it, but there are screen captures floating around the net and she does look like a ghost of Liz Taylor and absolutely beautiful.

I'd like to thank all those that read and review: Jeremy Shane, Challenge King, ArtisticAngel6, PD31, darck ben, and Twilight Warrior 627.

At this time, I have about two more chapters left to the main story: We Love Each Other and I hope you'll check that story out. Thanks again, OneHorseShay

Melanie Mills as Herself  
Special Guest Star Heather Fox as Herself, okay really the wonderfully talented Elizabeth 'Liz' Gillies  
Guest Star Cody Christian as Henry Dustin 'Dusty' Hale


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